


Winging It

by Angelirae



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: College AU, M/M, Masochistic Marco, Svtfoe, demon marco, magic gone awry, tomarco - Freeform, tomco - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-11 20:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4452104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelirae/pseuds/Angelirae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DISCONTINUED. Oops.</p><p>If anyone would have told him that he’d become best friends with a girl from another dimension and they’d go off to college together in a different dimension, Marco Diaz probably would have called them crazy. And yet here he was in another dimension, going to college with his best friend, Princess Star Butterfly. He just didn't expect to find himself roomed up with a demon with anger management issues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first serious fanfic, so please be gentle!  
> Hope you guys like some Tomco~  
> Chapters are short. Sorry but they'll get longer, I promise!
> 
> Beta is the amaaaazing Lattekitten from Tumblr.

**CHAPTER ONE**

 

The last few years had been rocky to say the least.

Star, though she was just as hyperactive and outlandishly impulsive as always, had matured over the years. Her mother and father had welcomed her back to the kingdom, having been there when she had saved Earth from Toffee a second time. Ludo, though he had finally gotten himself away from Toffee’s manipulation, continued trying to steal Star’s wand. Still to no avail.

Though Star technically lived back on Mewny, Marco’s parents had opted to keeping Star’s bedroom addition to the house. A good thing, Marco thought, since even though the princess was close to getting the throne from her parents, she still spent almost all her time on Earth. Well, not _always_ on Earth, but with Marco, be it on his home planet or any of the numerous other dimensions out there. Such trips were so commonplace by now that seventeen-year-old Marco Diaz had become an expert ‘on-the-fly’ packer.

Marco let out a huff as he finally managed to zip up the too-tight compartment where he kept the first aid kit, “Okay, that was the last of it,” he breathed out. He pushed himself up from the floor, hands on his hips as he leaned back and twisted his body, stretching out the bunched muscles from sitting on the floor for the last thirty minutes.  He quirked his brow, “You know, you _could_ have helped.”

Star was on her bed, bouncing excitedly as she waited (impatiently if Marco had a say on the matter) for her friend to finish his preparations. She gave the boy a wide, almost devilish grin as she flung herself from her new canopy bed and onto his back, giggling all the while.

“Aww, you know you wouldn’t let me even if I tried. Remember last time?” She voiced, chipper as always, not at all upset that the human wouldn’t let her help. Not that she particularly wanted to help him pack, even for such a momentous day.  Packing was so…boring. She much preferred to wing it. Everything was far more exciting that way, though sometimes inconvenient.

 Marco brought his arms close and hugged himself, shivering as the memory kicked in, “How could I forget? I still can’t believe I let you convince me that your back was waterproof. So many wet socks.” He shivered again in remembrance before dropping his arms to his side. Star only giggled more.

“Yeaaah, but you’ve gotta admit that those wet socks came in handy! Who’da thunk that the Googly-Eyed Mantibasilisk would like the taste. Like pudding, just like you said!”

Marco shook his head, cringing at the idea of even putting clean socks near his mouth, “I said that it felt like _walking_ in pudding, not anything about—ah forget it. I need to check if there’s anything I forgot. Double check your stuff too,” he hummed, making his way out of her room and slipped into his own.

Marco’s brown eyes scanned the clean living space, his small smile tilting as he looked longingly at his gaming consoles. He wished that he could take them with him, but he doubted that they would fit into the bag and as much control as Star had over her wand, he didn’t quite trust her skills to spell the consoles and his games along. What if she got distracted and dropped them? Or Ludo and his lackeys decided to drop by for a beating? No, Marco would have to settle with his handhelds.

The teen stepped further into his room, looking for anything else that he would like to take. Not much. He had a blanket packed away and a pillow, all his dental needs were taken care of, deodorant and body spray were packed away in a left hand pocket.  He turned, making his way out of the room when he noticed the mask tacked up on the wall.

He hadn’t had to wear it in almost a year. Ever since he’d learned that Tom didn’t remember his face without the mask, Marco had taken it upon himself to keep the demon on his toes. It was almost comical how infuriated Tom could get when Marco showed up in the skull mask to stop the demon from whatever nefarious plans he had to get Star to take him back, though it was still quite frightening.

“Marco! We’re going to be late!”

The brunet ran his fingers fondly over the mask, lingering just a moment before he registered Star calling from her room, “Be right there!”

 He pulled the mask from the wall and decided that he wouldn’t need the mask where he was going, but it was still pretty cool to keep around. A memento, memories of good times and all that. The boy quickly made his way upstairs where his parents stood in Star’s doorway, tears in their eyes at the idea that they were going to miss their children.

Star had become just as much their child as Marco over the years and they were going to miss having both of the crazy teens around, even if they were exceptionally proud of the two for graduating the month prior. They were still growing up too fast, as all parents seemed to think (when they weren’t busy fussing over how immature their children were being over some incident or another).

Marco smiled sheepishly at his parents, barely managing it before his dad enveloped him in a massive bear hug. His breath left him and he tried to return the man’s hug with a wheeze. At last he had breath in his lungs when his father set him down and his mom gave him a tight hug which was more of a sad cling, “Oh, I’m going to miss you,” the older woman voiced before she glanced over to Star and waved at the girl to join them.

Star beamed and dashed to her second family and hugged them tightly, the four of them a pile of clinging limbs and suppressed tears. Marco closed his eyes and snuffed back his own forming tears as his parents let the hug die down, “I’m going to miss you too, but hey. It’ll only be a year and I’ll be back for holidays,” he said, rubbing his arm nervously. He hadn’t been away from his family for so long before and the excited nerves were also starting to be joined by the anxious ones.

Star nodded, wand clutched tightly in her hands as she bounced back and forth between her booted feet, “Yeah! Though it’ll seem pretty random for you guys! There are so many different, non-human holidays celebrated! Oh! Oh! Oh! I can’t wait for you to experience the Festive Festivities Festival in a few weeks!”

Marco smiled at that, laughing a little, “Sure sounds…festive!”

Star grinned wildly before grabbing his face and smooshed it between her hands. She put her own face inches from his nose before heaving, "You have nooo idea!” She jumped back, flicking his nose before she grabbed his bag from the ground, and let out a shrill keen at the sound of large, flapping wings.

“Ah! They’re here! Hurry, Marco!” she belted out and ran to her window. “Thank you so much for letting Marco come with me! Thank you so much!” she called to the boy’s parents as Marco made his way to the taller girl’s side; she still somehow managed to be a few inches taller than him after all the growing he had done over the last three years.

Mr. and Mrs. Diaz gave happy little waves as the pearlescent carriage pulled up alongside the teenager’s window. Two white pegasi beat their wings leisurely beside the house, keeping the carriage aloft as it waited on their two passengers to load up.

“Just take care of him, Star! Have fun you two!”

Star gasped and quickly took hold of Marco’s arm and opened the carriage door with her free hand. She spun around, shoved Marco into the plush red seats, and waved frantically back to the older humans, “I will! We’ll call you on the mirror once we get settled in!” With that, the Mewny girl threw herself into the seats, bouncing lightly as she shut the door.

Marco waved to his parents through the glass window and smiled once they waved back. When the carriage started moving, he clung to the seats, teeth clenching at the sudden movement before the flying horses rose and the ride evened out. He calmed down and glanced to Star, who was smiling back at him.

“So are you as excited as I am?  I’ve always wanted to go to Caedrin’s Academy of Assembled Dimensional Talents and now I can,” the princes squealed, putting her arm around Marco’s shoulder and pulled him into a side hug, “With my bestie!”

Marco rolled his eyes and gave a soft chuckle, “I honestly doubt that you’ve always wanted to go. I just heard of it this year. Did we ever even thank your parents for getting me in?”

Star looked at him wide eyes for a moment before waving it off, “Nah, but no biggie. We can call them tonight and tell them how happy you are!” She purred, clapping her hands together and bounced excitedly as the carriage slipped into the blue opening of the portal that led to the dimension the aforementioned academy dwelled. Marco simply rolled his eyes, a smile still spread across his lips as he watched the smears of blues, greens, and yellows fly by. If anyone would have told him that he’d become best friends with a girl from another dimension and that after three years, they’d go off to college together in a different dimension, he probably would have called them crazy. And yet here he was in another dimension, going to college with his best friend, the princess of Mewny.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Academy**

 

From all he had heard about Caedrin’s Academy of Assembled Dimensional Talents from Star over the last few months, Marco had expected the dimension to be made up out of a barren wasteland and very hot. While it was certainly humid outside, the breeze felt nice and the school’s campus was far from the ‘draconic’ that Star had described it as.

Instead, water, or what appeared to be water, made up the majority of what Marco could see.  The school grounds itself was within a vast ring of ivory. The walls were hallowed out to make room for glass-less windows in several places. Small gardens were grown alongside the walls and in each of the four cardinal directions, two spires stood across the stone walkway. These, Star pointed out, were dorms for the eight recognized genders of the dimension.

“Okay, I admit that there are more than eight genders, but hey! It’s better than Earth and their two. No place is perfect,” she had said before pulling the teenage human after her, pointing out various other sights. Marco went along willingly, eyes wide as he took in the school’s massive form.

Inside the walls, there were the four main roads made up of glass and stone. While it was pretty neat to see the wildlife swimming beneath the walkways, Marco decided that he would probably keep to the center courtyard as much as he could. Until he had to return to the dorms that is. Too many toothy creatures lurked beneath the glass for his comfort. The scent of salt and silt was strong, but the flowering plants that were planted across the courtyard were pleasantly aromatic. Almost sweet.

. In the middle of the entire structure, was a tall, spiraled pyramid-like structure made from the same ivory as the outer walls and had an open vibe about it. Glass made up most of the walls and was held in place by the ivory. Capped on the top of the building was a thick roof made of sparkling red, yellow, and orange scales. ‘ _So this is where Star got the draconic from,’_ he thought as Star shoved him into the automatic doors of the academy.

Marco continued forward, following his best friend as best he could, but Star was just as hyped as he was about being able to attend such a prestigious school, though he never would have known how great it was if it wasn’t for his exuberant best friend.

The brunet looked around the interior of the building, a smile playing on his lips over how…normal everything seemed to be.  The walls were a nice yellow color to set off the blue outside the windows. More local plants were inside, making the interior smell fragrant. The floor, he learned, was made out of some strange reflective surface look rough like sidewalk, but was smooth. Not only that, but it seemed to be made of something that dampened the sound of movement or was spelled to do the same.  Doors didn’t seem to be used often however. Everything was so open except where one would expect there to be privacy. Such as the headmaster’s office where he had found himself standing right outside of with Star just in front of him and about twenty other college students.

None were human like him, but most had a vaguely humanoid shape. A few actually looked similar to the demons he had seen back when he was fourteen and snuck into the Blood Moon Ball to save Star, as unnecessary as it had been at the time. Multiple eyes scanned the electronic board that had some dropdown menu separated by gender so that they could locate where an individual’s dorm was located.

“Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” Marco pointed out, somewhat timidly pushing his way past other creatures so that he was standing by her.

She gave a soft hum before shrugging, “I don’t see why. It’s helpful if teachers or classmates want to find each other. Also for finding new friends to ask if they want to hang out. It’s pretty cool, if you ask me!”

The human crosses his arms, holding himself a bit before letting go to thumb through the menu for ‘boys’ and searched to find his name. Room 204.

“I suppose but what if you don’t _want_ someone to find you? Imagine accidentally angering someone and instead of them acting out in class or-- heaven forbid—talk about it, they go to your room and attack you while you’re vulnerable or something.

She gave a hum in acknowledgement and gave a gentle nod, “Yeah. I can see the issue, but it’s not that bad. The doors have magic locks and stuff. I think they’ve even upgraded to a new security thing that allows you to lock out anyone not supposed to be there. Do you intend to make someone angry, Marco? Gasp! And you didn’t plan to tell me, were you!”

Marco floundered about, almost slapping a gelatinous-bodied kid in the face before catching himself and stepped away from the small gathering of students but not without noticing some were giving the duo strange glares.

“What? No! I’m just saying, it seems really dangerous, but I suppose the weird lock thing would work,” he replied before shrugging his pack higher up on his back. The straps were starting to make his lower back hurt. He hoped that he had time to drop off his stuff before whatever else Star had planned before they started class. He would love to get some real sleep in before he had to be up in the morning.

Star gave a joyous laugh and patted Marco on the back, making the boy stumble with the force and the weight already piled on his shoulders, “I’m just kidding! C’mon, Marco! There’s this _amazing_ campus cafe I want to show you. You’re going to love it!” After giving Star a weak glare, Marco straightened himself out and gave a huff as he watched the girl go running back out the doors to the courtyard, a smile tugging at his lips. He always had trouble staying mad at Star.

It took a good five minutes to cross the stone and glass walkways, mostly due to Marco having to weave around the influx of students _without_ falling into the open water and the pool of gnashing teeth beneath the water’s surface. It took another couple minutes trying to convince Star that he was okay and that he’d manage to find his dorm after she tried to forces herself into the boy’s dorm. Marco was just glad that he’d got her to agree before she resorted to her wand, thankful she was not quite as wand happy as she used to be.

Marco continued his way down the hall, eyes trailing to the number on the doors, “sixty eight. Sixty nine. Seventy…” He let out a sigh. He had a ways to go before he found his room. He just hoped when he made it there that he didn’t have to room up with someone who would delight in tormenting him. Or had a taste for human hearts or something.

Marco repressed the shiver that crawled up his spine at the thought and made his way to the stairs. Finally, after his legs started to feel like jelly, he made his way to the fifth floor and found his room.

“Ugh, finally. Room two ‘o’ four, home sweet home,” he forced out between his lips as he stuffed his hand into his pocket, searching for the keep. Thankfully, his new hoodie had nice, deep pockets, perfect for storing small things and cellphones. Not that he would have coverage this far from home, or did he? He’d have to test it out after dinner.

Retrieving his keys from his pocket, Marco gave the door a quick knock. The last thing he wanted to do is make a terrible first impression by walking in on some other dimensional being changing clothes or worse. When there was no reply, Marco pressed the key into the lock and thumbed the door’s sensor. A soft musical beep and a click later, the door was unlocked and the human made his way into his home for the next year of college.

It room was simple, decorated as much as normal bedroom on Earth would be. Marco wondered momentarily if perhaps the people in charge of the dorms did research to make the rooms as comfortable as possible for their students so not to experience too much culture shock and there for stress. Maybe they did screenings to figure out who ended up as roommates as well. The teen shrugged off the thought as he made his way into the room, shutting the door behind him.

His roommate, whomever it would be had yet to show up, Marco reasoned. Not only was there nothing unpacked, but there wasn’t even a bag to claim which side of the room the other occupant wanted. Lucky him. Feeling a bit better about his living conditions, Marco heaved the back from his shoulders and set his bag on his chosen bed; the one furthest from the window. He appreciated sunlight as much as the next person, but not being from this dimension and not knowing the suns’ schedules, he wanted to keep himself from being blinded awake as best he could manage.

Now that he had dropped his things off, Marco supposed that he should probably meet up with Star for dinner, but glancing at outside (since he couldn’t read the strange clock they had given him) he decided he had a little time to unpack a few of his things.

Leaning over his belongings, Marco unzipped the bag and started pulling things out that he would need most. The first things he removed was his pillow and comforter.  Even though the ones they provided to him looked comfortable enough, he knew he’d sleep more easily with the ones he brought from home. He glanced at the mask he had pulled out to get to his bedding and gave a small smile. He’d find a place for it later, right now he just needed the more important things.

With the mask tucked safely back into his back, Marco made quick work with the last of his things, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, and a bottle of Tylenol in case he got a headache. With everything set aside, the boy set his backpack on the ground and shoved it in the corner by the proffered end table; at least he _thought_ it was an end table.

Pleased with his work, Marco turned to go look for Star when the door opened, revealing a tall man about his age. He was grumbling in annoyance over the locking mechanism, but that was the last thing that Marco noticed, the first thing was the fact that the man had three red eyes, lavender skin, salmon pink hair, and two bull-like horns tacked onto the side of his head. The second thing he noticed was that the demon being in his room mean that the dorm committee had messed up the locks, or the more logical reasoning:

Tom was his new roommate.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Predicament**

 

Marco watched as Tom shoved his way into the room. The demon’s arms were full of several boxes and there was another demon behind him carrying a large pen. Tom continued grumbling as he turned to look at Marco’s chosen bed and took in a deep breath, as if trying to steady himself or keep from snapping and setting the entire room on fire.  
Tom tossed his own bags onto the other bed and turns to give Marco a glare, staring at him in annoyance, “What are you looking at?” The demon’s voice was low, teeth gnashing together to keep calm. All three eyes scanned the human, sizing him up, before letting out a soft scoff as if he couldn’t believe he had any threat from such a tiny boy.  
Marco glared back, heart racing as his mind kicked into gear. This was Tom. Anger management issues Tom. Tom who could set him on fire at any tiny provocation. Why was he just standing there staring at him? Marco swallowed thickly and turned back toward the door, “Nothing— just. I’m going to go.”  
With that, the teenage human made his way to the door, slipping out into the hall behind the demon with the pen. Marco caught sight of the pinkish white ball of fluff inside just as he exited, comforted that the school had allowed Tom to bring it, but not by much. Halfway down the hall, he could hear the demon start yelling about inconsiderate roommates. Marco quickly made his way down the flight of stairs, ignoring the sting in his legs from having just walked up five flights of stairs and heading back down so soon.  
When he finally made it outside the dorm, he had to stop and lean against the building, inhaling deeply as he practically ran down the stairs and he may be having a mild panic attack. Star would know what to do with Tom because he couldn’t very well just accept Tom as his roommate. He would die by the end of the week.  
Marco didn’t have to wait long before Start showed up, a little more bounce in her step as she was followed by the floating head of a unicorn.  
“Is that Marco?”  
Star quickly shushed her friend and pounced at her human companion, “Marco! You’ll never guess who I found!” the girl positively gushed. Her hands splayed and flailed frantically as she tried to get his attention.  
Marco gave weak smile and a quick wave to the second princess, “Hey, I see you busted out of Princess Jail again,” he teased, though he wasn’t completely in it. Pony Head gave a whicker and a little laugh, “Ah yeah, you know it! Can’t keep me stabled for long!” She beamed, shaking her head, mane flowing with the action.  
Star laughed and took Marco by the arm and pulled him from the wall, “I invited Pony Head to come eat with us, you don’t mind, right?”  
The human shook his head. He may not exactly be friends with Pony Head, but after she had sacrificed herself to save him and to gain Star’s friendship back; he was on better terms with her. She also made Star happy and he wanted a happy Star.  
“No, it’s cool. The more the merrier they say,” he replied, feeling a little more calm with something else occupying his time, though he still couldn’t forget that after dinner he’d be returning to a dorm he shared with Star’s crazy ex-boyfriend.  
Star gave a loud whoop and flung her arms around both her friends’ necks, hugging them close. Pony Head managed well enough and laughed with the hyperactive girl, Marco on the other hand stumbled a little before regaining his balance. He couldn’t help but give a small chuckle. Star’s happiness was catching.  
“Hey, Star did you know that Tom was going to be here?” he asked, rubbing his arm as he followed beside the two girls. Surprisingly enough it was companionable despite Pony Head being there. The princesses’ presence was settling his nerves.  
Star furrowed her brows and looked like she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to keep smiling or to frown. She hadn’t known, though she supposed that she should have known. It was Tom who had mentioned Caedrin’s to her so many years ago. Why didn’t she think about that?  
Pony Head was the first to reply, “Wait, wait, wait. Tom? As in Tom the demon? Didn’t you date him in your punk rocker days, Star?” She narrowed her eyes, flickering their blue and yellow starred gaze between Star and Marco.  
Start gave a groan, “Ugh yes! He’s been pretty really insistent on getting back together with me. Over the last couple of years, he has been trying everything to get me to go back out with him. It’s super annoying!” the Mewny princess explained, filling in her friend who had missed all the action the last three years.  
Marco nodded in agreement when Pony Head turned to him and took on an air of pity, “Wow. That must’ve sucked. And you saw him, Marco? Here at Caedrin’s?”  
The human nodded and gave a small groan of his own, slipping away from Star’s arm as he went back to rubbing his own, “Yeah. He’s my roommate.” He glanced to the two princesses and wished he hadn’t with how much a pitying expression they gave him. He didn’t like it so he quickly waved it off, “Hey, no big deal though. I can handle him. I took off his hand before, didn’t I?”  
Pony Head grinned at that. Her whickering laughter infectious as Start soon joined in. Marco couldn’t help but contribute as the three made their way into the café and took a seat. He still felt uncomfortable having to spend a year as Tom’s roommate. He was going to be tiptoeing around the demon for a whole year. At least Tom hadn’t recognized him. That would have made things so much worse.  
Before Marco knew it, the trio had eaten their dinner and hung out for the rest of the night. It wasn’t until Marco could no longer hide his yawns that Start excused him to get some sleep. It was the equivalent of the human eleven at night and Marco had class early. He only hoped that Tom had already gone to sleep and he could get some as well.  
Another trip up the stairs and Marco was sure he was running on fumes. Why didn’t this school have some sort of way to make the trip less horrible? There even were five more flights above him. He was surprised that anyone made it to the top floor. Then again, this school had other dimensional beings for students. Many probably could fly or teleport or something else useful.  
Marco made his way to his dorm, unlocked the door and thumbed it open. Thankfully Tom did seem to be asleep, his blankets wrapped loosely around his form and he slept. The down side was that while he had gone to hang out with friends, Tom had taken it upon himself to rip Marco’s blanket and pillow from his bed and tossed all the human’s belonging on the opposite bed.  
Marco grumbled as he rubbed at his nose, trying to release the headache and irritation he felt over the fact. Moreover, the demon was the one who had been complaining about inconsiderate roommates earlier and here he was, being the least considerate. The human let out a resigned huff before making his way over to his bed and slowly began picking away at the scattered mess the demon had made of his things.  
It didn’t take long, but finally Marco had managed to put his things back in order. Unfortunately, during the time he had spent with Star and Pony Head, he had forgotten that he had no clue how to read or let alone set the strange alarm clocks here. He let out another groan and flopped onto his bed, too annoyed with his predicament to try to keep quiet. Let Tom throw a fit if he wanted. Marco had more to complain about and if the demon wanted a shouting match, he’d give him one. Luckily, the demon didn’t even flinch.  
‘Deep sleeper, I guess,’ Marco thought as he pulled up his blankets and tried to get some sleep. He hoped that he would wake up in time to eat and look for his class before it started. The teen gave on last yawn as he drifted off, feeling sorry for himself and how he just had to be the one stuck with Tom.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Morning**

 

The sound of someone stomping around and sudden screaming stirred Marco from his sleep. His efforts to get away from the vicious yelling only made things worse when he rolled over, the suns’ rays hitting head in the face. Marco let out a groan and finally, pushed himself up in his bed. There was no way he was going to be able to get back to sleep now.

The teen rubbed his eyes before trying to send the raging demon a glare to convey his annoyance; however, Tom wanted nothing to do with it. The demon continued to pace around the room before he noticed the human was awake. He let out a snarl and flung himself at Marco, grabbing the boy by the shoulders and shaking him. White teeth flashed dangerously, “Learn to pick up your shit! I stepped on your friggin deodorant!”

Marco’s eyes widened, heartbeat stuttering in fear before he shoved the demon off him. He jumped out of bed and quickly made his way to the other’s side of the room and removed Marshmallow from his pen and pushed the soft rabbit into the demon’s arms. His pulse was going a mile a minute as he thought of all the ways that the demon could end his life.

Tom immediately took hold of the rabbit and sat down on his bed, hands already working over the soft back of the small animal.

Marco took a hesitant breath, eyes locked on the demon’s pale hands and the almost pink fluff ball in them, “To be fair, I _did_ have my things put way. _You_ were the one who decided that you wanted to be a big baby and throw a tantrum over which side of the room you got.  While I was gone and unable to defend my stuff, no less.”

The pink haired man gave a scowl and took a stabilizing breath as he pet his rabbit, fingers working over the fur fervently. Marco still had yet to turn away from the scene. It was somewhat charming how just petting Marshmallow seemed to help quell the demon’s anger. Who would have ever thought that some destructive, flame-happy demon would find solace in the silky fur of an Earth rabbit? Was Marshmallow an Earth rabbit?

“I did _not_ throw a tantrum over which side of the room I wanted,” Tom explained, eyes closing as he took deep breaths, “I waited until you were gone so there would be no comflict, picked up your stuff and put it onto the other bed. I wanted this side because the sun irritates my eyes. I prefer _not_ to wake up pissed off at the world.”

Marco couldn’t help it, he let out a snort of a laugh.

“So much for that,” he voiced, finally breaking his eyes from the other’s hands and turned to look to the window. It was still early; maybe he wasn’t going to be late. Then again, he didn’t know exactly what time it was and perhaps he really had a super early class. Some students probably even had night classes. What was there to stop the school from doing ‘crack-of-dawn’ classes?

With a huff, Marco pushed himself from his bed and went to work picking up his deodorant and the other disorganized things he had missed cleaning up last night. He set the assortment of hygienic utensils on the maybe-end table and decided that it was probably a good idea to shower and get ready for the day.

Tom was quiet a little longer, his eyes opened now that he was calm, his fingers still working at Marshmallow, curling and scratching absently at the dip behind his ears. He watched as Marco picked up the things he had tossed around last night and furrowed his brows. Really, it was his own fault, this time. The human couldn’t possibly have known that he got angry over lights in his eyes. Demon eyesight was so sensitive after all. His eyesight so much higher focused that the human could hope to experience.

As Marco was digging through his bag, looking for some clean clothes to wear, since he had fallen asleep in yesterday’s clothes instead of pajamas. Though he still loved the color red, he had grown out of only wearing red hoodies and black skinny jeans long ago when Jackie had mentioned it to him. He thought it would probably get her attention his he started expanding his wardrobe. He pulled out a pair of soft grey stonewashed jeans, a white undershirt and, of course, a hoodie. Instead of it being pure red, however, it was mostly black with red stripes and a red hood.

Tom watched with mild interest, eyes widening a little when the other pulled out the hoodie. He liked that hoodie, maybe he would get one for himself in the future. Even though he was sure he might end up burning through the sleeves if he didn’t keep his anger in check. Ever since the Blood Moon Ball three years ago, he hadn’t managed to cut his anger off again quite as well and if he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t done particularly well then either.

The human made his way into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He set his clothes down and pulled out a town from the cabinet and started to undress. He paused for a moment as he contemplated whether actual water was going to come through or if he was going to have to worry about what he stepped into. He bunked with a demon after all. Did demons bathe using water?

Looking over the shower, Marco gave a frown when he couldn’t find any knobs or anything that looked like it could be used to turn it on. It was simply a large case made of glass and some scale-like material with a few black accents. Experimentally, Marco put him arm into the shower and waved it around. He jolted back, expecting the shower to spit out some form of demonic cleaning agent. The room was better fitted for a demon’s use than for a human’s. He had been the only human he’d seen at the school and he had seen plenty of demons.

 “How do you turn on this dumb shower?” Marco called out to Tom with a grown, hoping the demon hadn’t left yet or he was going to be stuck going to class without a shower. At first, he heard nothing and contemplated calling out again when Tom swung open the bathroom door and brushed passed him.

The human flushed cherry red as the demon pushed his way through. He was practically naked, having only his boxers on and the demon’s arm was warm. Really warm.

“I keep forgetting humans aren’t as advanced as other dimensions,” Tom grumbled out, his voice surprisingly gentle as he turned to give the human an appraising look, his three eyes scanning down Marco’s frame. Marco only turned brighter.

 _‘What was_ that _about?_ ’ he thought as Tom turned his attention back to the shower.

“This here,” Tom pointed out with a black-lacquered nail, “is the sensor. You put your hand here. You have to actually touch it and keep your hand there for five seconds give or take. It reads your DNA signature to adjust to what species you are,” The demon turned around, took Marco by the arm, and pulled him closer. Marco gave an undignified squeak as he was maneuvered in front of the demon, his bare back almost against Tom’s chest.

Tom moved Marco’s arm so it was in front of the sensor, lips twitching in a smirk as he sensed the human’s unease. Maybe being roommates with a human wasn’t going to be so bad, definitely had plenty of opportunities to tease him that was for sure.

“Put your hand where I showed you. It takes at least thirty minutes for it to read a different DNA signature and to adjust to what is safest for the scanned species,” he finished explaining, letting go of Marco’s hand and stepping away from him.

Not trusting himself to look at the demon for confirmation, Marco pressed his hand to the sensor and waited. After about five seconds, as the demon had informed, a spray of water fell upon him. Marco’s eyes widened and pulled his arm back and looked over the shower, checking if there was anything to alter the temperature. When he found nothing, he risked a glance to Tom.

“Uh, any way to change the temperature?”

The demon rolled all three of his eyes and gave a snort as he turned toward the bathroom door to leave the room, “Nope. It’s a ‘safe’ and ‘regulated’ temperature so you can’t sue the school. No risk of freezing or scalding yourself.”

The demon made for the door as Marco turned his attention back to the shower, not so happy about the luke-warm temperature, but it was better than a cold shower he supposed. Not so good if he needed a quick wake up in the morning after pulling an all-nighter though.

Tom made his way out of the bathroom and shut the door. After he was alone, Marco started to tug down his boxers before the door quickly opened again, making the boy go red hot in embarrassment.

“Oh, and the shower only runs for about thirty minutes, so better hurry up!” The demon belted out before closing the door again.

“You could have knocked!” Marco shouted back, voice cracking in mortification. At least he didn’t think that Tom had seen anything. With his heart racing, the teen shed off the last of his clothes and tossed them on the floor before slipping inside the strange shower.

He finished his shower quickly, his hair smelling pleasantly like some kind of foreign fruit. It was a nice smell and kind of had him wishing to taste the real thing. He’d ask Star about it later. In the meantime, he had to get dressed and figure out where his class was.

When he exited the bathroom, dirty clothes discarded in one of the two totes stashed in the corner of the bathroom, Tom had already left. Marshmallow was back in his cage pink nose wiggling as rabbits do. Marco smiled at the sight before turning his attention to the window above his bed.

Looking out of it, there were already students milling about, though none of them seemed in any particular hurry. He hoped that meant that morning classes hadn’t started and he had time to grab a bite to eat with Star and find his class.

Just as he was pulling away from the window, the alarm next to his bed went off. A loud, mechanical-sounding shriek erupting from the chunk of plastic. Marco quickly flipped the switch to turn the sound off, heart thumping wildly in his chest. He knew that the alarm had been off yesterday. He never did figure out how to set it the day before and yet here it was set, his schedule resting on the end table.

‘ _Maybe rooming with Tom won’t be so bad.”_

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Beginning**

 

Marco had three classes that morning and thanks to Tom setting his alarm, he had actually managed to search out their locations before his school day began. He had to remember to thank the demon once he returned to the dorm.

His first class, thankfully was with a high-strung pixie-like professor who kept everyone on their toes.  She seemed nice enough at first, but as the class continued, the more Marco found out that the teacher liked picking on her students when they started to look even the slightest bit disinterested. He had a throbbing forearm of faerie pinches to prove it.

His second class was right before lunch, and personally, his favourite of the ones he had. In the years that passed after he first met Star, Marco had become better with his KARATE. He had set his mind in that all the monster butt he had kicked with Star had helped him improve so quickly, because at the end of the school year he had finally gotten his black belt. All of that had definitely paid off in the class, as Dimensional Martial Arts was more difficult than he had imagined it would be. All those different appendages were tricky to deal with, but he felt he had handled himself pretty well.

Unfortunately, to get his degree in Trans-dimensional Psychology, Marco had to understand magic and how it influenced the minds of the many peoples that used it. He was human. Magic did not come to him naturally despite how much he had seen Star use it in the past. He didn’t have fire. He didn’t have levitation powers, or mind control. He had absolutely no knowledge in actually harnessing magic, so even his Fundamental Magic class was absurdly difficult. It certainly didn’t help that the son of the headmaster—both of which were dragons, seemed to find his ‘puny’ human form distasteful and a a waste of space in a school for the ‘talented’.

Marco let out a sigh as he rested his head on his arms as he finished telling his best friend about his day. Star, thankfully, understood how hard it could be for a human.

“That was totally uncalled for! I mean, you’re the first human they have even had here in almost a century! He should be glad that he gets to be the one to teach you magic!” she huffed, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her arms, wand tapping against her arm.

Marco glanced up at her, gave her a silent _‘are you serious?_ ’ before he wrapped his fingers around his Slurpee and drank down the cold beverage.

“Yeah, well Firefang sure doesn’t seem to see it that way. I don’t blame him either. I’m a human, I don’t even have any inherent magical capabilities. You aren’t even that good at using your magic without your wand,” Marco pointed out, taking another deep swig of the blue drink.

Star gasped, her fully developed Mewberty wings fluttering in false-indignation, “Oh, I sure can!” TO prove her point, the blonde zapped the boy’s Slurpee causing the container to shrink upon itself and expel the rest of the drink all over the table.

Marco started as the blue liquid dripped to the floor. He turned his attention back to Star and raised an eyebrow in less-than-impressed fashion, “You were saying?”

Star gave a quick, nervous chuckle, “That I’m awesome? Okay! Okay, you’re right, I’m not the best without the wand, but hey! We’ll figure it out together okay? There must be some way to help you learn magic. Maybe there is a spell in the manual somewhere. How about we start looking through that and get you set up before next time you have Fundamental Magic. Sound like a plan?”

Marco gave a resigned sigh at the suggestion, “I’d prefer we don’t do something reckless quite yet. Maybe I’ll figure something out before then.” Chocolate eyes glanced back at the table once more before Marco pushed himself from the booth. He needed to clean up Star’s mess before one of the servers came by. He knew it was technically their job to clean up the mess, but he was an adult and wasn’t about to leave that much of a mess for the poor workers.

After asking someone behind a counter for washcloth, Marco made quick work out of the spilt Slurpee and rinsed out the rag in the bathroom sink. He returned the cloth with a quick thank you and joined Star back at their table, staying standing as he waved for the girl to join him.

Star smiled and jumped from her seat, her own bubblegum flavored drink in her hands as she followed the human out the door. While it was still warm out, similar to a North American spring, one of the suns had begun to set, casting the sky into this odd—but beautiful burgundy color. Marco smiled at the sight before turning back to Star, “Guess it’s time we split ways. I have a bit of homework to complete. No clue how I’m supposed to figure out these properties of this Hex Ruby though. Do our rooms have some kind of internet?”

The girl pursed her lips as she thought about it and nodded, “Yeah I believe so. There should be this button on the wall beside your bed. Press it and it should come up with a hologram thing. You use it like a touchscreen computer. I’ll leave you to do that homework thing,” Star said, giving her friend thumbs up, “I promised Pony Head we could go dancing tonight! Have fun!”

Marco rolled his eyes, amused. Have fun? With homework? Sure, whatever she says, “You have fun too! Don’t forget to stay hydrated and get back to your dorm at a reasonable time!” he called back, laughing when Star gave him a look like he was insane.

They waved to each other and Marco made his way toward the male dorms, stomach already twisting at the thought of Tom being there. The demon had been civil that morning, even with the screaming, but someone like Tom wouldn’t stay that way for long and it was never wise to assume he was still in a good mood after class. It was likely that he had a bad day as well, especially since he seemed the type to find most anything an affront to his being.

After climbing the five flights, Marco’s calves were already screaming to rest. Thankfully, his room was right next to the stairs. He thumbed the door open and made his way into the room. The bathroom door was closed and a soft hissing sound was coming from behind it. ‘ _Tom must be back’_ , Marco deduced as he set his bag beside his bed and unzipped it. As much as he would like to relax after the long day, he wanted to get his homework complete first. It would make relaxing all the more enjoyable without the stress of work on his shoulders.

About half an hour later, Tom emerged from the bathroom toweling his hair dry, a trail of steam erupting from the room behind him. Marco was grateful that the demon at least had clothed himself with a pair of thick, red pajama pants with one eyed bats on them. He wished the demon had at least put on a shirt though.

Marco quickly turned his attention to his homework. He was almost done with his first class’s work, some work sheet on business etiquette for the most widely used forms of negotiation and trade. It was relatively easy work. Most of it had been able to finish without looking up the answers. He was now completing the questions he had been unsure of.

Tom had continued into the room, his ruby eyes flickering over to the human for a moment before making his way to his bed. He picked up a small mp3 player from his end table and stuffed the earbuds into his ears. At least the humans had created something useful. Demons typically just let their music play out loud for all to hear. His race was not typically very mindful of other people or their preference of music. Some humans even seemed to understand what music was better than demons.

Soon, the demon found himself lost in the lulling lyrics, his own homework pulled out and in front of him and the internet flickering in front of him.

Marco watched Tom from the corner of his eye, using the other’s distraction to get away with using the other as an example of how to use the hologram. It was as Star had said, actually surprisingly easy to use. More simple than an actual computer once he got the hang of it. Especially when he learned from Tom’s example that he could operate the entire thing with his voice, no touching involved (other than the initial press of the button).

With his business homework done, Marco went to work with the Hex Ruby and searched about the different properties the gem took under different magical stimulants. There were fifty different stimulants on the work sheet and it took several hours of work, but with Tom keeping to himself and the internet being fast, he managed it faster than he thought. He hoped that he would impress his teacher. He may not have the magic abilities that the class seemed to necessitate, but he had resources.

At the end if the day, everything seemed to have turned out for the better. Marco glanced to Tom, who had fallen asleep while working on his homework an hour ago. His hologram had flickered off after the lack of activity and different classes’ tablets were spread across the demon’s bed. Tom was flopped over clumsily, his hands wrapped around his mp3 player and breathing deeply.

Marco contemplated waking the demon so that he wouldn’t have to deal with his homework being unfinished, but he decided against it. Tom was probably the type to get violent of people woke him. Marco still hadn’t given the other his thanks for setting his alarm. He decided that tomorrow sounded like a good enough time as any.

Marco went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth and flossed before he finally made his way back to his room. He was already dressed in his pajamas and all that he had left was to get to sleep. Quietly, the human flicked the light out and made his way to bed. Hoping that Star had done as he requested and had made it back safely, Marco drifted off into sleep. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to inform you all in case you haven't noticed yet, but I post 2 chapters at a time. So be sure to check out the previous chapter~  
> Ex. 1&2 are posted on same day, 3&4, and 5&6\. This is how it will continue so just a warning!

**Chapter 6: Temper**

 

Morning came quicker than Marco would have liked. He actually had been able to sleep without tossing or turning, or so he suspected, as he didn’t have that obnoxious ringing in his head from sleep deprivation. Instead, the ringing of the alarm clock was what he woke to. Quickly he turned the screeching off and turned to other matters of waking up.

The seventeen-year-old let out grunt of dismay. He had different classes today, which was great except that Fundamental Magic was apparently a course that he had unwittingly agreed to take four times a week. Marco had no clue how he was going to survive the semester.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he turned his head to the sound of the bathroom door opening. Tom, once again, had a towel tangled in his coral-pink tresses. He had his pants on for the day, but was without a shirt. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Marco watched the demon in a sleep haze before finally remembered that he still had the alarm matter to deal with.

Marco stood up, his legs wobbled a little under him as he stretched, eyes closed. When he opened them again, three fuchsia red eyes were watching him. The human fumbled a little before turning away, a slight blush of embarrassment on his face. _What the hell?_ He knew that the prince of the Underworld or whatever was built nice, but in comparison, he didn’t look too bad for a human. Marco had several years’ worth of karate and monster butt kicking to thank for that. It still didn’t answer why Tom was staring.

Clearing his throat, Marco took it upon himself to break the awkward tension, “G-good morning, Tom. Thanks for yesterday. Um, the alarm thing,” he stuttered out, arm moving up to rub at his arm nervously. The demon was still looking at him; though thankfully not that odd stare.

Tom gave a small hum, “Whatever. Say, how did you know my name? I don’t believe I ever told you.” His voice was curious albeit a little suspicious as he voiced the question. Slowly, Tom removed the towel from the tangled mess in his horns and tossed it on the side of his bed. Marco gave a small frown at the terrible laziness of the action, but though better about pointing it out. He had an excuse to conjure up, thankfully he was good at thinking things up on the fly.

Marco gave a shrug, hoping that it seemed natural, “I saw it on your assignment last night when I was getting ready for bed.” That sounded pretty good, he admitted to himself. Believable.

Tom only narrowed his eyes, pausing in pulling his old trademark starred red t-shirt over his head. Marco only subconsciously realized it had to be a new one as it was large enough to now-taller demon.

“Speaking of which, why didn’t you wake me last night?” he asked, voice deepening with annoyance, teeth gritting slightly. He finished pulling his shirt over his head and went to pulling socks over his bare feet. Eyes training back on Marco, this time little flickers of embers burning behind them, making them resemble small furnaces.

Marco flinched back at the demon’s voice, but otherwise held his ground.  A scowl slipped over his features as he made his way to the closet by the bathroom and pulled out a towel, wanting to escape the demon as soon as possible, “I’m not your caretaker and you’re an adult for all that I’m concerned. You’re fully capable of taking responsibility for your actions.”

In hindsight, turning his back on the demon while his anger was building was a terrible choice. Marco quickly found himself face first against the wall, his wrists snatched up by the demon and pinned against the now-closed closet door. The towel he had just grabbed discarded to the ground. He let out a growl and pushed back against Tom, trying to jar the man away enough that he could slip his wrists free. Tom was having none of it and only tightened his grasp. Marco couldn’t help out the small whisper that slipped past his lips. _Stupid!_

“I don’t think you know who you’re talking to,” Tom snapped, shark-like teeth gnashing dangerously close to the back of the teen’s neck, “I’m a _Prince_ and I think you’d do well to remember that.” His growl only deepened. Marco couldn’t help notice that, surprisingly, the demon had been able to keep his flames in check, though he could feel the incredible heat of the other’s palms against his wrists.

Marco let out a displeased sound of his own, shipping under the demon’s grasp to try to kick back at him. Tom easily dodged the movement and shoved Marco further against the door, “Nice try, but I’m a _demon_. My kind could easily snap those fragile human bones of yours.” The human gasped out, panting a little as he trembled. _Fuck. This can’t be happening…_

Swallowing thickly, Marco opted to press himself against the door, making his chest press against the slowly heating surface. His face burning with shame over the fact that _Tom_ had him in such a submissive, not to mention suggestive position. Didn’t help that his dumb, ‘ _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!’_ body decided it wanted to react to it.

The human let out a soft grunt, snapping his eyes shut as he tried to force out some kind of confidence in his tone, “Y-yeah? Then why is it you had to sneak up behind me? Afraid I’d be able to defend myself?” He realized he probably shouldn’t be taunting a demon, let alone the Prince of the Underworld, but for some reason the ‘Safe Kid’ seemed to forget to take safety in mind when in combat. This was definitely some form of combat even if he was at a huge disadvantage.

Marco could feel the heat spike up around his wrists as Tom tightened his grip, the bones grinding together before abruptly, the demon released his hold on the teen, made his way over to Marshmallow, and removed the soft creature from its cage. “Just take your shower, human,” the demon growled out, closing his eyes and breathing deep.

Marco held in the pained sob that threatened to spill from his lips as his blood flow returned to his wrist and the bones righted themselves. He sent a glare into Tom’s direction, watching as the demon stroked the soft fur of his rabbit. Even though he was pissed at the demon, he would deal with him later. Right now, he had to get away from Tom. There was no way that he was going to let Tom see him in such a state. He would never be able to live it down.

At least while he was the only one who knew that the other’s rough treatment was somewhat exciting he could just forget about it. He mentally berated himself for admitting that he had enjoyed being pinned to the closet door, at the other’s mercy. Marco stifled a shiver.

The human picked up his town and quickly slipped into the bathroom, locking the door behind him and quickly undressed. A cold shower was definitely in need that morning. A fast one too since Tom had decided that he’d waste five minutes of Marco’s time with a damn temper tantrum.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Unprofessional**

Marco took his time with the shower. As much as he wanted to rush and get out of the room and away from Tom, he had to still his frantic heart.  Five minutes later the pumping organ seemed to take the hint and stutter to a slower pace. After that, Marco started finished his shower.

He had spent too much time in the shower and trapped under Tom that he was running a little late.  Marco gave a shrug. He’d just head to class with wet hair, as much as he disliked the idea, food was more important. Besides, it’s likely it would be dry by the time he got to class anyway.

Marco quickly toweled off his hair and body before tossing some clothes on, thankful he had left a set of clothes out on the counter the night before, a habit he was trying to start. He was extra sure that it was a good idea now that Tom was his roommate. _Can’t believe that I thought he was going to be fine to room with, ugh._

The teen ran a brush through his hair and made his way out the bathroom door, refusing to hide behind the door to check if Tom was still in the room. That was what he wanted to do, but would certainly be the cowardly approach. Thankfully, when Marco exited the bathroom the demon was nowhere to be seen and Marshmallow was already put back into his cage.

Marco let out a sigh and made his way back to his bed. He pulled out a pair of socks from his bag and slipped them onto his feet, eyes trailing over the room. Thankful that at least Tom wasn’t a messy person. He didn’t know if he could deal with both Tom’s anger and a messy room. Maybe it was just too soon to see if the demon was a dirty roommate. It’s only been two days, after all.

With a huff, Marco slipped on his shoes and tossed on his hoodie. He got up from the bed and picked up his backpack and finally, turned on his mp3 and stuffed it into his pocket. With earbuds pressed into his ears, Marco made his way to the café to grab a bagel or something before class.

 

When Marco went to turn in his Hex Ruby and his assignment in to his Fundamental Magic teacher, he was feeling positive about the day once more. He had been able to finish the assignment despite not having magic. Sure, it had taken longer since he had to research all the effect of the fifty or so different kinds of magic had on the gem, but he had completed the assignment nonetheless.  If he was being honest with himself, he was a little proud of himself.

Professor Firefang rested at his large desk his clawed hands shifting through a folder of that day’s lessons, “Put your assignments in the tray and I’ll take your questions over the assignment once I’ve collected them all.” Marco watched as the other students went up to the dragon’s desk and set their assignments into the tray. The human moved into the line of students, putting his paper into the tray. He noticed several moments in that he was the only one returning the gem and it left him feeling unnerved. A few student, he realized, actually hadn’t even completed the homework yet still turned it in. That was when the warning bells went off.

Slowly Marco put his finished homework into the tray and gently put the gem down beside the tray, wincing when in clacked a little too loudly against the polished stone. Marco shifted to move away from the desk when the professor’s slit eyes flicked over to the human, maw widening in an amused grin as he rose a hand. The other students paused in turning in their work to look at the teacher in confusion.

Firefang reached out and picked up the Hex Ruby and Marco’s paper, teeth flashing menacingly.

 “As you see here, the silly human doesn’t quite understand the point of this assignment,” the teacher started and lifted up the paper and gem, “A completed assignment and an intact gem. Would one of you please explain to Marco here why he has just failed the assignment?”

Marco flinched back, teeth grinding in irritation. Despite this, he couldn’t help but cower a bit under the other students’ gazes. Mercifully, the students either seemed to be on his side or, more likely, did not want to cause a huge scene. When none of them spoke up to answer the professor’s question, the dragon simply rolled his golden eyes and continued.

“Alright, I’ll explain. One, for this assignment, you had to _use_ magic on the Hex Ruby to get the answers. Seeing as your gem is still intact and your paper is complete, I can deduce that you did not use magic to come to your conclusions.

“Two, if you _had_ used magic to complete this assignment, the point of this assignment I remind you, then you would neither have an undamaged gem and only twenty seven of the questions would be possible to answer. And that is only if you answered the questions in the correct order, not the order shown on the page,” Firefang explained, leering at the human before waving him off and setting the gem aside.

Marco bit his lip, gnawing it in his frustration as the professor glanced over his work, looking at all the answers before smirking wide.

 “Too bad, because all these would have been correct. Go take your seat, class is about to start.”

Marco’s eyes widened a moment before stepping forward, hand shooting out to point at the Fundamental Magic professor, “You can’t fail me for not being able to do magic! Humans can’t do magic and that’s—“

“And not every student here can do every form of magic there is. They obviously either didn’t answer the questions they couldn’t do or, to those who actually used their _brain_ or whatever their lifeform’s equivalent is, they asked their peers for assistance. Now, I said take your seat, class is about to start,” Firefang explained, voice as cocky as Marco had ever heard it.

With a groan, Marco turned on his feet and shoved himself into his chosen desk. The other students shuffled nervously, put their own work in the tray, and quietly filled their own seats. Marco couldn’t quite lose the glare he had fixed on his professor for the rest of class.

When the class was over, Marco rushed to the door, wanting to hurry up and get out of the room. He had had enough of his teacher for the day. _More like for a lifetime!_ He just wanted to meet up with Star and rant about how unfair and _unprofessional_ the professor was. Of course, Star had a class now so he’d have to bottle it up a little longer until they both were free. That was going to be about six hours from now.

Turns out that Star had forgotten to tell Marco that she and Pony Head were going to go out partying after class. Normally, this wouldn’t really bother Marco, except that well, he was her friend too and he didn’t exactly want to be left out. He tried to reason with himself. Star hadn’t seen Pony Head for three years, not since she and Marco snuck into St. Olgas Reform School for Wayward Princesses.

Marco quickly shook his head, trying to dislodge the memory of when he had to wear that puffy pink dress just to look like a convincing princess. He also made sure to get rid of the memory that despite the heaviness of the dress, it had not been particularly bad. Rather, he wished the dress had been red.

With a sigh, Marco made his way back to the dorm, hoping that Tom was out with some friends or doing some class work. He really didn’t want to deal with him on top of the crap that his professor had pulled today. It didn’t help that the dragon had assigned even more homework and he had no clue how he was going to complete it to the professor’s satisfaction.

Marco quickly unlocked the door, thumbed it open, and slammed the door behind him. Tom, unfortunately, was there and working on his own homework already. Marco let out an open groan at seeing the demon. He really didn’t want to deal with this.

Tom sent the human a glare, “What, didn’t expect me to be around?”

Marco rolled his eyes, “I really am not in the mood for this right now.” He groaned before kicking his shows off, sending them flying underneath his bed. He dropped his bag to the ground and just let himself fall face first into his bed.

Instead of lashing out at the rude dismissal, Tom simply quirked his brows. After a few minutes watching him, Tom took it that the human had no plans to get up. The demon rolled his three eyes and went back to work.

When an hour passed and Marco hadn’t moved, Tom let out a frustrated huff, pulled his earbuds out of his ears, and tossed them to his bed. He pushed himself up from his bed and left the room, pointedly ignoring that now Marco was trembling, but no sounds were coming from the human.

_Angry. He is definitely angry,_ Tom thought to himself as he made his way to the vending machine just down the hall. He knew what that felt like far too well. With a sigh, the demon ran a hand though his hair, his other hand swiping his card over the scanner and punched in the code for the drinks he wanted.

When the drinks were dispensed, Tom picked up the drinks and made his way back to the room and to Marco’s bed. The teen was still laying face first in his sheets, fists clenched tight as he shook. _Yup, definitely angry_. The demon took one of the bottles by the neck and gently thumped it on the side of Marco’s head.

Marco let out a barely refrained growl, “What?” When Tom didn’t reply, the human turned his head, glaring at the fire demon before his eyes landed on the strange bottle. It was definitely bottle shaped, but covered in this weird rubber-like stuff. He glanced back to Tom, questioningly.

“Thought you could use a drink,” he stated blankly, wiggling the bottle in front of Marco once again. Marco started moment longer before nodding. He sat up and shakily took the drink in his hands and started to study the odd container. It was firm and had a rubber casing. It was shaped similarly to the old coke bottles on Earth but had a strange pull lip like the one water bottled sometimes had.

He popped the lid and let the beverage settle the carbonation a moment before taking a drink. It was weird, but surprisingly good. It tasted a bit like carbonated sour green apple with a hint of…cinnamon? Marco shrugged and took another drink, “Thanks.”

Tom shrugged, “No problem. You seemed a bit upset and well, I sort of know what that feels like. ‘Though, I’m pretty terrible at keeping it in check if you’ve noticed.” The demon hummed as he took a swig of his own drink, shivering at the sour taste.

Marco couldn’t help but give an amused snort, “I think I’ve noticed. Is that what the rabbit is for?” he questioned. He, of course, already knew the answer, but Tom didn’t have to know that. It was better to keep up with the charade of being newly acquainted than let him know that he was the idiot that crashed the Blood Moon Ball a few years back. Not to mention the kid who karate chopped his hand off before that.

Tom raised his brows, surprised that the human would know something like that. Then again, using animals as a method of therapy was a human thing. At least if Tom remembered correctly. Braid had brought the idea up after all.

“Yes.  Though he helps in a pinch, Marshmallow hasn’t exactly _cured_ my anger,” Tom informed, rubbing his arm with a sigh.

Marco quirked his brow, lips pursed just slightly, “Uh, you can’t _cure_ an emotion, Tom. Sure, being angry all the time isn’t healthy, but neither is trying to just…get rid of it. It’s an important core emotion and you just have to learn how to control it and not, well, explode.”

The demon gave a frown at the other’s words before shrugging, a small smile on his lips. No one had ever told him that before. Whatever.

“That sounds fake, but okay.”

Once again, the two slipped into a comfortable silence until Tom realized that he was still just standing there by Marco’s bed. It was a little awkward, but he didn’t want to break the companionable atmosphere just yet. He thought it over for a moment before he took his bottle and bumped Marco’s with it, “Let’s go for a walk.”

It was Marco’s turn to be surprised. Tom? Inviting him on a walk? Was this some kind of odd trap? Then again, the demon had been able to calm him down enough that he was no longer trembling in rage. Sure, he was still pissed, especially now that he was thinking about it again, but it was better. With a shrug, Marco decided it couldn’t all be bad. Moreover, they would be in public if Tom tried anything.

“Sure, sounds good to me,” the human replied before pushing himself from his bed. Tom gave a small smile before making his way to the dorm door. He waited patiently as Marco hopped to the floor, set his drink down, and dug under his bed for his shoes. After slipping them on, Marco joined Tom, sour green apple-cinnamon soda back in his hands, and the two left the dorm.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, sorry!

**Chapter 8: Understanding**

The larger of the two suns were setting when Marco and Tom made their way outside the dorm building. A few students were still milling about with friends or rushing to their night classes, but it was rather relaxing. Marco actually found himself thinking that Tom wasn’t so terribly bad, of course he knew the demon’s mood could be flipped like a switch. He just hoped the demon would stay calm during their walk. He really didn’t want to deal with the demons anger on top of his own.

Marco took a sip of his soda, eyes flicking to the demon. Tom was fumbling with his jacket, zipping it to just under his chin to keep out the night chill. Why was every dimension so much colder than the Underworld? Tom let out a huff and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Marco couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, “Cold?”

Tom let out a small grumble, “Hard not to be when I’m used to my home dimension,” he retorted. Marco frowned and let out a hum of acknowledgement. That made sense, Tom was from Hell or whatever. It would stand to reason that he would be cold. No wonder Marco usually saw Tom in long sleeves.

“Makes sense,” he voiced, stuffing his own hands into his pockets and shifted his feet.

The demon noticed the nervous movement and started walking, finally moving away from the dorm’s door. Marco joined him a second later, relieved that they were no longer standing there awkwardly.

They walked in relative silence for about half an hour before Tom broke the silence, curiosity flickering across his red eyes, “So, um…what was with the fumes earlier?” He shuffled his own feet a bit before continuing forward.

Marco gave the demon a sideway glance, not quite sure he wanted to tell Tom. Star wasn’t always the best to tell his frustrations to, she never really seemed to understand when he got so infuriated, but she was pretty good at distracting him and cheering him up. Tom was well, Tom.

He was an anger demon. Or Fire demon, Marco wasn’t completely sure. He wasn’t even sure that there were different species, er—races, of demons. With a sigh, he shrugged. It was better to let go of the stress and if Tom was offering…

“It’s not really anything too bad. Just one of my professors is a complete dick. I’m human so I can’t exactly preform magic or anything, but Fundamental Magic is a required class for my major. Something about ‘understanding magic will help you understand the mind of those who use magic’. Whatever. He gave us this dumb assignment where we had to explain all the different ways a Hex Ruby is changed by different magical stimuli. Since I can’t _do_ magic, I just looked it up. _Apparently_ , that wasn’t good enough since I didn’t do the assignment the way the professor wanted. He wanted the gem be destroyed by the magic and for me to have, like, only twenty-seven answers! He even called me out in front of everyone to berate me for not doing it right! Like, who the hell does that?!” Marco hissed, tossing his hands up in frustration. He let out a growl, “he even announced I failed the assignment in front of everyone  even though I’m the only one who answered all the damn questions!”

Marco, once again, was trembling in his frustration and even though his explanation started calm, he was practically yelling by the end of it. Sometime during the rant, Marco had come to a stop and Tom was standing a few feet in front of him, watching him with understanding.

Tom nodded, “Firefang is well known as being one of the more ruthless teachers here. He, supposedly, believe in universal equality. Which is all fine and good, until you don’t take into consideration that not every people have the same talents and skills as each other. That really sucks though. Maybe you could ask people for help with the assignments?”

The human turned away and shrugged, “I suppose. I just wish I was something other than _human_ so I could just do it myself. I don’t really like meeting new people. Too much stress to impress.”

Tom nodded again, “Definitely get that. Back in the Underworld Dad had me meeting new people all the time. People who are important to the royal family. Business partners, treasurers, ugh, he used to make me do these dumb meetings with possible suitors. I’m just as keen as the next guy to be in a relationship, but it doesn’t mean I want it shoved down my throat.”

Marco bobbed his head in agreement, “It’s especially bad when you like someone and they don’t seem to notice when you give them hints.”

“Or when they just don’t want anything to do with you over something you can’t help.”

Marco made to nod again when his brain clicked in place at the other’s words. He was obviously talking about Star, but… Star had seriously broke up with him over something Tom couldn’t control? Tom had to be missing something.

“Seriously? Are you sure you didn’t do something else without knowing?”

The demon huffed, “Nope. She made it _pretty_ clear that she was just tired of my anger issues. Which I suppose I understand, but I don’t think Star realizes that it’s not like I can just turn it off. Whatever, I’m over her.”

Marco looked up at the demon at that. _He’s over Star?_ Marco let out a relieved sigh. Maybe now that Tom wasn’t going to continue pining over Star he could let go of some of that anger. He did seem to be a lot more relaxed about everything than he had been a year ago when Marco had last seen him. Is that why he hadn’t seen the demon in so long. Before moving here for college that is.

Marco gave a hum and gently nudged the demon, elbowing him playfully, “Hey, I’m sure that you can find someone better. Someone who understands you and doesn’t mind helping you with anger management.”

Tom furrowed his brow, smirking a bit at the younger teen’s words, “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.” The demon relaxed a little in the human’s presence. _This was a good idea and he’s no longer pissed. I’m amazing!_ The demon complimented himself before tossing his thump over his shoulder, pointing to the café behind them, “Want to get a bite to eat before we head back. It’s getting late and neither of us has finished our homework.”

Marco straightened up, back going ramrod at the other’s words, “Shi—! Yeah sounds good. I’m just glad I don’t have class until the afternoon. No Firefang either.” Tom gave a sharp laugh, causing Marco to start at the sound. He never heard the demon laugh before. Sure, he had heard a snort or borderline-insane laughter once when Marco had kicked the demon in the face two years back. He had broken Tom’s nose and busted his lip that time and the demon had only laughed. It was unsettling to say the least. But this? No he hadn’t heard Tom’s amused laugh and he couldn’t help but think that it sounded good.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters until I get to the first major turn of the story! AHH!  
> Hope you all enjoy!

**Chapter 9: Plan**

Marco had awoken early and got to work on the homework he had neglected the night before. Other than Fundamental Magic, his assignments were easy enough to answer. It was Firefang’s class that he was having troubles with and if he was being honest, it was the professor, not the class, that he disliked. When Marco finished his work, doing as best he could with what limited resources he had, he took his shower.

Tom had already left, having morning classes that day and Marco felt a little bad about it. The demon had given up his time for homework just to listen to him rant about a dumb teacher. Marco’s face warmed up a little in embarrassment at that, heart thumping a little faster in his chest. He would have to do something to make it up to the demon. He just really didn’t know what a demon would like.

With a sigh, Marco glanced to his alarm clock. It was about thirty minutes before he had to leave for class. He had to get to the café and meet up with Star before brunch. Even though he had snacked on what tasted like a granola bar earlier, he was still pretty hungry.

The teen quickly packed his backpack for the day’s classes and tossed his shoes on. Slinging it on his back, Marco grabbed his mp3 player and made for the door, locking it behind him. He was glad that he didn’t have to carry the keys on him just to lock or unlock doors. Earth needed to come up with home security systems like this for the general public.

Bracing himself for the long, tiring trek down the stairs, Marco took a breath and headed down. He made it down and outside the dorm in record time. _Must be finally getting used to the stairs_ , he thought as he made his way across the glass and bone walkways to the food district, a little out of breathe even with the decrease in time. Seeing Star standing in front of the establishment rocking on her heels forced a smile to his lips. Then she noticed him.

“Marco!” she called out, her already wide grin now positively beaming as she ran to her friend and looped her arms around his neck. Marco took her by the waist and spun her a few times before settling her back to the ground, his smile now accompanied by a small chuckle.

“Sorry for not being around yesterday, Pony Head and I went out partying and we didn’t want to disrupt your homework. You get cranky when you’re running behind,” she teased, crinkling her nose at the memory of a stressed Marco not getting his work done in time. That was never a pretty sight.

Marco shrugged, “It’s okay, thought you and Pony Head would probably like some time alone since you’ve hardly seen each other since St. Olgas.” Marco stuffed his hands into his pockets and tilted his head to the café, “Ready to grab a bite before class?”

Star grinned all the more, “You know it! What I _really_ want is some of your famous nachos! Being here has made me forget what they taste like.” The princess even puckered her lips out in a pout. Marco simply rolled his eyes with a slight flush.

“They are hardly famous, Star. Besides, it has only been like, three or four days since we had got here. I made nachos the night before we left,” he teased, poking her in her gut with a chuckle. Star only spun around with a laugh, taking her best human friend by the wrist and tugged him into the café for some breakfast.

“So how’d the class go? Are you ready for me to whip up a spell? Magnificent Magical Marco Beam or something?” The blonde questioned, twirling her wand by nonchalantly, not actually putting any magi behind the spell.

Marco gave a small huff, a twitch of his lips from trying to keep positive, “That name is atrocious. And I’m starting to debate it. Yesterday he called me out in front of class at failing the assignment. The ruby was still intact and I answered all the questions. I should at least get credit for the paper work! Answering the rest of the unneeded questions should balance out the lack of a destroyed gem.”

Star jumped up, slamming her hand on the table they sat at, gaining the attention of several shocked and curious students.

“That is stupid! UGH! I’m so sorry you have to deal with that Marco. I’ll look up a spell to fix this problem. Shouldn’t be too hard since we’ve organized the manual,” she grouched, finally seating herself back down once she was calmed down. _Firefang better be glad I’m not in his class!_ She thought with a huff.

Marco was relieved when Star sat back down, a little embarrassed for drawing so much attention, but not ashamed for having Star as a friend. Even if she was loud and was constantly making a scene, at least she was loyal and personally, the best friend he could ever wish for.

“Thanks, Star. Also um,” he started before glancing out the window and rubbed his sleeved arm. How was he supposed to bring this up? Should he even tell her about Tom? He was about to turn away from the topic before his princess butted in with a wide grin.

“So how has Tom been? If he’s hurt you, I’ll kick his butt right out of this dimension!”

Marco flushed a little at the idea of Tom hurting him. He slowly rubbed at his wrist subconsciously before shaking his head, “N-no. Tom hasn’t hurt me. Actually for the most part he’s been rather accommodating. He showed me how to work the shower and set my alarm for me. Of course he also kicked me out of my bed and through my stuff on the floor,” he replied before giving a shrug, hand still working at his wrist. The motion wasn’t overlooked by a certain Mewny princess.

“Uh, huh. I have a feeling you aren’t quite telling me everything,” she said, tapping her foot in a slight reprimanding way, but otherwise didn’t say anything else. She’d rather Marco trust her to tell her than butt into his business. Last time she tried to get in the way of his thoughts she had messed up big time. It was safe to say that she could have lived without knowing that Marco liked pain a little too much.

The teen gave a soft chuckle, finally releasing his wrist and met Star’s eyes once more, “You can read me like a book. Hard to keep secrets from you.” He was teasing her and she knew it. With a laugh, Star jabbed at him playfully in the chest with her wand.

“We’re besties. We’re not supposed to keep secrets from each other,” she started before quickly tacking on, “But I suppose there are a few truths of yours I’d rather not know.”

Marco flushed a bit at that, “Yeah, talk about awkward. But it’s nothing like that. I was just really pissed last night over Firefang and couldn’t calm down. Weirdly enough, Tom helped me out.”

Star quirked a brow, motioning for Marco to continue.

“I was in bed and he brought me a drink and we just talked for a bit. Went for a walk and ate dinner together. It was kinda…nice,” he shrugged. Tom wasn’t as bad as he initially thought. Then again, it was probably because the guy had finally gotten over Star and wasn’t lurking around her like a creep anymore. “Oh, and he said that he’s over you.”

Star brightened at that, “Really? That’s a relief! I wonder if that was why he hasn’t been around in a while. Wait, did he recognize you?” She wrung her wand in her hands, slowly bringing it up to nibble at the handle, a habit she hadn’t quite been able to kick.

Marco shrugged, “I don’t think so. He hasn’t mentioned any of our fights or the fact I chopped his hand off so I think we’re good. I mean, I did wear the mask most the time we dealt with him anyway.”

Star gave a hum of agreement before making another in contemplation. Marco waited, knowing it was better to wait for her to get to a conclusion. She was so easily distracted as it was, no reason to make it worse.

“You know, Tom used to be pretty fun to hang out with before we started dating. He, Pony Head, and I used to hang out a lot during my ‘punk rocker’ days. Pony Head actually introduced us when we were going to listen to this concert. Too bad that he had a lot of stuff going on around then otherwise he probably would have stayed cool instead of, well, angry all the time. Ugh, and the jealousy!”

Marco shifted a little in his seat, slightly uncomfortable with his friend’s words. _What if he became angry because of the stress of being prince? Even Star hated the pressure. What if his anger was just him dealing with it differently than she did?_ Marco shook the thoughts from his head before looking at clock on the café wall. Time to go.

The human let out a sigh and pushed himself from the table and gathered his trash, “Sorry but we’re going to have to continue this talk later. It’s almost time for class.” Star glanced up at the clock too and gave a smile.

“Sure, I have class in a bit too. Tonight I’ll look up a spell and we can get it set up for the weekend. Sound good?” She asked, picking up her own garbage and threw it away. Marco tossed his trash in the bin and gave Star a small wave.

“Sounds good! Tell me what you find out!”

With that, the two split ways and made their way to class.

 

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter until the first major turning point!

**Chapter 10: Joke**

When Thursday (was it really still Thursday in this dimension?) came around, Marco had begrudgingly woken up and made his way to class. Just as he had expected, Fundamental Magic ended turning out just as bad as it had last time. He had worked with Star the night before in getting his assignment done. In fact, they had stayed up working into the dead of night alternatingly on his homework and looking for a spell to solve his problem. Even though they had trouble finding a spell to give humans magical powers, they had been able to finish his homework.

Homework that Firefang, once again, refused to accept even though the professor had told Marco to get help on it.

Marco was fuming when he made his way up to his room after his last class of the day. He slammed the door and tossed his bag on the ground, not even caring that his other homework was probably going to be crinkled. His other professors weren’t nearly as bad as Firefang and even though he felt bad about it, he didn’t particularly care if they found his bent papers unsightly.

Tom looked up from the hologram’s screen for a second before putting his nose back into his own work. He waited a moment to see if the human was going to say anything, but when Marco flopped face first into his bed as he had on Tuesday he put his pen down.

“Firefang again?”

Marco let out an aggravated grunt, but rolled over, hands balled up and covering his eyes. He swore he had a headache forming, “Wow, I didn’t know you were also a mind reader,” he snapped. Immediately he felt a little guilty. Tom was just checking on him, as weird as that seemed.

The demon rolled all three of his eyes before picking up his pen once more.

“I try,” he replied a little gruffly, hand flicking up to push a few loose strands of hair behind his pointed ears, “Anyway, why don’t you just report him? What he is doing is technically abuse. I think. I’m pretty sure you can get him in trouble for the shit he’s pulling.”

Marco let out a snort at that.

“Right and do you think the headmaster is going to do anything about it?  Rumors say that Firefang is his son. Why would he believe a dumb student over his son? Or worse, why would he care?” the teen reasoned, rubbing his eyes. Yup. He definitely had a headache coming on. He could feel it knocking in the back of his skull like a persistent Jehova’s Witness. 

Tom shrugged, “I suppose, though I hear that Caedrin is actually a pretty cool guy.” He scribbled a few more notes down and set his pen aside. He quickly touched at the hologram, closing down things that he no longer needed and saved the documents he wanted to keep before shutting it down. With a sigh he turned his attention back to Marco. The human really hadn’t had any good luck since he had gotten here. He almost felt bad for him.

“I’m getting a drink. Want one?”

Marco remained quiet a moment longer before lifting a fist from his face, peaking at the demon. His brows furrowed as if it had been a trick question. _Why is he being so nice to me?_ His locked eyes with Tom for a moment before deciding it wasn’t a trick. He lay back down and covered his face back up, “Sure. Thanks.”

Tom gave a nod and made his way out the room only to appear again with two bottles of that same sour green apple cinnamon soda. He gently bumped the bottle against Marco’s fist and set it down beside the brunet. The demon made his way back to his bed and sat down, back against the headboards and legs crossed in front of him. He unscrewed the lid and took a quick drag on of the liquid, eyes not so discreetly watching the human.

Marco patted around beside him for his drink, face now covered by his arm. After a few pats he finally wrapped his fingers around the neck of the bottle. He worked the cap off and eyed the drink. He really wanted to sit up since it would make taking a drink easier, but at the same time, he didn’t want Tom to notice how red his eyes were. He hadn’t exactly started crying in frustration yet or anything, but it was still threatening him.

Instead of taking a drink of the beverage, Marco simply stared at it before letting out a defeated sigh. He just really hoped the demon was preoccupied on something else, “So why do you always get this kind?” Even thought it had been asked as a way to distract Tom, Marco was actually curious as to why the odd choice in flavor. Surely, the school had something better, though he had to admit, it wasn’t too bad. One of those weird things that you grow attached to after drinking it so much. Marco pushed himself up and finally took a drink.

Tom lowered the bottle from his lips and glanced at it, a small frown on his lips, “If you don’t like it then throw it out.” His voice was a little strained and he could hear it. He had no idea why the question bothered him. Star always teased him over the drink and even though he knew she was doing it in good fun, he still hated it. Looking back on it there was a lot of things that she teased him about that he was uncomfortable with. Sometimes he wondered what made him fall in love with her in the first place. Of course then he’d remember that it was her—

“That’s not what I meant!”

Tom jumped a little, startled out of his thoughts, heart beating frantically at the other’s suddenly loud voice.

When Marco saw Tom jump, he flushed lightly, embarrassed at having been so loud and well, he didn’t know. Just that he hadn’t intended to scare the demon. Did he scare him? At that thought he gave a sidelong smile, “I…um…I actually think I’m growing to like this one, I was just kinda curious. I mean, the school has to have a lot more flavors than this. Why did this one catch your attention, that-that is what I meant.”

The demon’s eyes widened a little at the human’s confession. Sure, him admitting to liking the odd flavor wasn’t a huge deal but it still surprised him. No one ever liked that flavor. _Well obviously, many people did or they wouldn’t keep making it,_ he reasoned, but he hadn’t ever met anyone who liked it. Or met anyone who admitted to liking it at least.

“Oh. It’s this old flavor Star, my ex, once dared me to drink ‘cause I don’t really like sour things that much. I don’t know. I drank it and I ended up liking it. It’s been my favorite ever since,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and staring off toward where his mp3 player sat on his end table. Maybe he originally fell in love with the flavor due to the fact that _Star_ had told him to drink it and he just took his obsession a little too far. He didn’t know, but he no longer liked Star like that and he still liked the drink. He mentally shrugged the thought from his mind, there was no good coming from dwelling.

Marco nodded, a small smile at his lips. He took another drink of the strange soda, twisted the cap back on, and set it on his end table, “Not the adventurous type, huh?” he teased, glancing back to the demon. He probably shouldn’t be enjoying his time with Tom as much as he has been, but when he wasn’t being yelled at or beaten up by the demon, he was actually pretty cool.

Tom rolled his eyes and gave a coy grin toward the human. He lay back and rolled over to his side, propping his head up on a hand as he took in the boy’s blush. _Cute_. Surely, he could have a little fun with the human.

“I’d have to disagree. I find myself very adventurous, you just have to know which buttons to push,” Tom replied, locking eyes with Marco and drew out his words. Smile deepening when he saw Marco’s eyes go wider and face redden deeper at the hidden meaning behind the words.

Suddenly Marco pushed himself from his bed, needing to get up and _breathe._ _Did he just—?_ He stumbled a bit and grabbed onto his end table to balance himself, needing to calm down. Of course, he ended up smacking his soda to the floor and fell, feet tangled up in his sheets anyway.

“Oh shit! I’m sorry!” Tom called out, hopping from his own bed to help Marco up, panicking a little. Humans were so fragile what if he accidentally caused Marco to break his leg, or arm or something? What if he had hit his head?

Hearing Tom’s worried voice, Marco let out a long whine, embarrassed to be fretted over so much. It wasn’t like he was made of glass or anything. “I’m fine. Just heh, sheets. You know how they are,” he reasoned, pushing himself up, ignoring Tom’s hand and dusted himself off, not that there was anything on him.

Tom only furrowed his brows more, “You sure?”

Marco nodded, “Yes. I’m fine, I just didn’t expect,” he said as he tried to figure out what exactly he was trying to say. Whatever it was, he couldn’t find it. He gestured to Tom, face still red at the other’s teasing and the embarrassment of making an ass of himself, “that.”

“It was just a joke! I really didn’t mean anything by that. Shit, humans have a thing about joking about that sort of stuff, don’t they? Shit.” Tom croaked out and started to pace. He hoped that Marco wasn’t upset with him. Tom didn’t even know why that thought scared him so much. They had only just met and only started getting to know each other but oddly enough, Marco didn’t get angry at him for being angry and was pretty relaxing to be around. He didn’t want to lose a potential friendship over something so dumb and—

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

It wasn’t until Marco was in front of him and grabbed his arms that Tom stopped his pacing, startled once again by the human.

“Calm down, sheesh. It’s okay, really. Just breathe for me,” Marco said, voice hushed a little, trying to use a quiet, gentle tone like how his books talked about. Something soft to sooth someone who’s panicking, something to calm.

Tom nodded and imagined a hand petting his hair, a self-calming gesture he had used most his life to try and keep from having panic attacks over the pressures of Princehood. He closed his eyes, tilted his head back just slightly, took a deep breath, and counted to ten. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, noticing that Marco had been rubbing soothing circles in his forearms the whole time.

He glanced down at the other’s hands and gave Marco a small smile, “Thanks.”

Marco gave a little snort, amused that Tom would _thank_ him after he just freaked a moment ago as well. Apparently, his _‘mother hen’_ side (Star’s words, not his) was stronger than his own panic.

“No problem, and you’re not stupid,” Marco replied, glancing as his phone went off in his bag. Although he didn’t get signal, he could use the mobile’s alarm when he needed to and he needed to go meet up with Star to figure out the whole ‘Magical Human’ spell thing.

Tom furrowed his brows, confused about the ‘you’re not stupid’ until he realized he must have said that aloud. He let out a groan and nodded. Then he realized that Marco’s hands were still on his arms. They were no longer massaging him, but just…there. Tom cleared his throat, drawing Marco’s attention once more.

The human then noticed his hands and quickly pulled them back to his side, “S-sorry. And sorry, I don’t mean to ditch in the middle of, whatever this was, but I have to meet up with a friend. Are you going to be okay?”

Tom let out a small chuckle and turned away from the human, face heating up just a little. _I’m such a mess today, I swear…_ He tossed a hand up in a nonchalant wave, “Yeah, I’m cool. You don’t look pissed and not broken or anything, so yeah. I think we’re good.”

Marco returned the laugh and quickly picked up his bag. Looks like he’d be doing homework with Star again tonight. He also hoped that they’d figure out a good spell to fix his problem with Firefang’s class.

“Good. I’ll see you when I get back tonight, or tomorrow. You’ll probably be asleep when I get back,” Marco informed, stuffing his mp3 player in his bag and zipped it up. He picked up his soda from the floor and made his way to the door. He paused and held up the drink, “Thanks again.”

Tom turned away and shrugged, “Not a problem. Have fun or whatever.” He quickly immersed himself into his school work, wanting to desperately get his mind from his dork of a roommate. A human wasn’t supposed to be so….So…? He didn’t know. Not whatever Marco was.

Marco nodded and made his way out the door, a soft smile on his face. Who would have thought that a demon would be so easily flustered? Maybe he’d have to give them a little more credit. He shook his head and quickly made his way downstairs. Hopefully the manager of the female dorm wouldn’t make a fuss about him being there two days in a row.

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Hopefully you all will enjoy the update!  
> New tags will be posted tomorrow to help with spoilers!

**Chapter 11: Spell**

The manager of the female dorm made a fuss about him being there two days in a row.

Thankfully, not even the grouchy android could say no to the combined charm of Marco and Star’s puppy eyes. With a wave of a hand, the manager bid the two to make their way to Star’s dorm and stop crowding the desk.

“And don’t think I won’t be watching to make sure that you leave before curfew,” the android called out in an effeminate but electronic voice.

“I’m sure you will!” Star called out with a giggle. The girl wrapped her arm around Marco’s and quickly tugged him forward and up the stairs to the second floor. The human was more than pleased that Star had a room on a reasonable floor. Much more preferable than the fifth floor that his and Tom’s room was on.

Star thumbed the two of them into her room and ran to her bed, flopping on the mattress. Marco smiled and rolled his eyes, closing the door behind them. He turned back to the princess and glanced around. He had almost forgotten that the princess had a larger room than the one that Tom and he shared, or maybe it only looked bigger since there was only one bed in the room.

“So, where does your roommate stay if she doesn’t keep her bed in here?” Marco questioned, making his way to his friend and set his backpack on the ground at the foot of the bed. He heard Star laugh out as he unzipped the bag and pull out his homework for the night; another dumb assignment for Fundamental Magic, a reading assignment for Dimensional Linguistics, and some essay for another class. He was thankful that the essay wasn’t due for a for another week. He actually really liked his Mental Development class. It was down to earth and had a relaxing atmosphere, probably due to the way the teacher was a sylph and she worked on making everyone content in her class.

“Are you loco in the coco, Marco?” Star chuckled and gave the boy an amused look. When he eyed her as if she was the crazy one, she shrugged him off, leaned over her bed, and pulled out the magic manual. With a huff she heaved it onto her lap.

Marco rolled his eyes once more and hopped onto her bed, his reading assignment laid out on his lap. “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer, but no. Just answer the question,” he teased, flipping to the assigned chapter and counted off how many pages he had to read. Almost twenty pages full of semi-acceptable sized font. Not too bad considering it was only half the chapter and it didn’t need to be completed until ‘Monday’.

Star gave a smirk at Marco’s reply, “You just did and I don’t have a roommate. I’m a princess! I get special treatment!” She flicked a piece of stray hair from her face and pinned it back with her bunny ear headband, her demon one long since abandoned. _Though the rabbit ears were new_ , Marco thought before turning back to his work.

“Really? Tom’s the Prince of Hell of whatever, isn’t he? Why is he stuck with me?” Marco questioned, quirking a brow and turning to Star, reading discarded before he even had begun.

Star let out a hum, contemplating it a moment before shrugging, “Underworld, Marco, but I have no clue. Maybe he declined the offer. Only thing I can think of, though he usually closes himself off. Dunno what would decline the private room. Now do your homework, I need to focus on figuring out a spell to give you mega magic powers.”

Marco let out a chuckle and returned to his work. After several minutes of trying to read the passage, his mind began to wonder why Tom would decline the room. _Maybe he decided he wanted to try an open up more. He seems a lot better than he was during the whole Blood Moon Ball fiasco._ Another ten minutes passed before Marco realized he hadn’t even read a full three paragraphs.  _This is ridiculous_ …

Inhaling deeply, Marco turned his attention back to his reading. After finding his pace, he got through about fourteen pages, completely forgetting that he was in Star’s room until she let out a high-pitched squeal that shocked Marco off the side of the bed. His textbook flew from his hands and landed painfully on his head. His heart racing ninety miles a minute.

He let out a groan and pushed himself back up, giving Star the larges ‘I’m not impressed’ glare he could, hand working at the knot he knew would be forming in the morning.

“Marco! Marco! Marco! I found it!” Star continued, bouncing excitedly on her bed. Her wand already summoned in her hands and firmly clamped between her teeth. It was remarkable she could still form such complete words in itself.

Marco quickly pushed himself up and stumbled onto her bad, crawling over to sit right in front of her, eyes scanning the book, “Really!? What’s it call for? Do we need to get any ingredients or draw any runes or is it just an incantation?” Marco couldn’t help but spewing all the knowledge he knew about spell craft in his enthusiasm, “Please let it be all three!”

Star snorted and shoved at her friend, grinning widely, “We aren’t summoning a demon or anything Marco! From what it looks like it’s just a spell to rearrange your DNA a bit so that you will be able to perform spells. Of course, when I start the spell, you have to think of a being or whatever that can do lots of magic to get the full benefit!”

Marco nodded eagerly, letting his eyes scan over the page. Star had gave him the simplified form, as usual. Fortunately he had been working on learning the script in her book and he had high hopes for this spell. He just had to think about a specific type of creature that could perform many forms of magic and concentrate on that magical aspect of the creature. Nothing too complicated and it even had a reversal spell, although that looked a little more difficult that the initial one.

“Alright, this seems to be the one,” he chirped, pointing at the instruction on how to reverse the spell.

“If we have any problems, we have this. I’m ready when you are, Star!”

The Mewny princess let out a playfully manic laugh before falling into a coughing fit, “Okay, theatrics aside! Let’s get this show on the road!”

Star read over the spell a few more times, memorizing the words. Her lips worked over the phrases a few more times before nodding her head, “Okay, stand over there Marco.” Star pushed herself from her bed once Marco hopped off and stood in position. She gave a smile before taking a deep breath. _No need to start stressing now, there’s a reversal spell if you mess it up,_ the girl told herself before she started to spin.

Her boots tapped lightly against the floor as she spun herself, dancing a little into her spell before pointing her wand at Marco, “Mega Magic Mutation Beam!” She called out eyes widening in excitement as the red, white, and purple magic shot from her wand and engulfed Marco in the bright light.

_I hope that this won’t hurt. I don’t want to accidently wake Tom up sneaking back into the dorm for first aid,_ Marco thought before being blinded by the spell’s light.

When the light faded away several moments later, Marco stumbled back, reaching out and caught himself on Star’s dresser.  He took a stabilizing breath as he felt the magic slowly fizzle awayHe was dizzy with vertigo and he could only be thankfully he didn’t fall on his ass like he had earlier in front of Tom. Even if he did, Star would come to his ‘rescue’ and help him up. Actually, hadn’t that been what Tom had done?

Marco shook his head, letting out a groan before he opened his eyes only to let out another groan of annoyance. When Star dropped her wand on the ground, he winced, quickly clapping his hands on his ears at the echoing effect that split into his head.

“Ugh, okay definitely have that headache now. Why is everything so bright? And loud?” Marco asked, squinting his eyes to try and block out some of the light. It didn’t really help much. Apparently, eyelashes could only help so much when it came to blocking out painfully bright lights.

“Um, Marco? I think I may have messed up the spell,” Star finally said, voice trembling a bit. In all it probably wouldn’t have been all that noticeable if it wasn’t for the heightened senses. Marco shook his head and felt dizzy all over again, almost as if he was off balance.

“What do you mean, Star? I haven’t even tried out any spells or anything,” the human teased and immediately frowned when he saw the look on Star’s face when she still hadn’t bent down to pick up the wand. “Oh no… What did you do? Please don’t say the tentacle is back…”

Marco jerked a hand up, eyes going wide as he stared at his now ashen skin. His forearms all the way to his fingertips a darker charcoal grey and finger nails a little sharper, though not any longer. They sort of looked like nubby claws. _Claws?_

Marco quickly turned around, looking at himself in Star’s mirror, his now golden eyes widening at what greeted him.

Not only had his skin dulled to a stony grey, but his hair seemed to have gotten a few shades more red than normal but that was nothing on the thick horns that curled above his head or the two pairs of black wings that seemed to have ripped through his new hoodie. He looked positively _demonic_.

“Demon… I’m a demon,” he croaked out, pressing his palms into Star’s dresser to keep his balance. He took a shaky breath and slowly reached up, poking at his now elongated and pointed ears. _Like Tom’s…_ he thought before running his fingers over his horns. They were coarse like a goats, but somehow still smooth.

He moved his hand to his face and poked at a cheek. It was grey like stone, but still soft and smooth like skin. He was still warm to the touch. _Warm_ … Actually, he felt _freezing_. It was as if he was standing outside in just his boxers in the dead of winter. He shivered and brought his arms around himself and quickly rubbed his arms to get some warmth in them.

“Marco…I’m so sorry. But hey! We still have that reversal spell, right?”

Marco stared at his reflection a moment longer before nodding, teeth chattering a bit, “Y-yeah. That-That sounds good. Let-t-t-t’s do that.”

Star finally bent down and picked up her wand, wrapping an arm around Marco and led him to her bed and quickly tossed a blanket over him. Having dated Tom before, she knew how demons tended to always feel a little cool outside of the Underworld.

“Okay, just try and warm up, let me read over this real quick,” Star advised, eyes already scanning the page with the reversal spell. The hopeful gleam in her eyes slowly dulled the longer she read and eventually she pulled her nose from the book with her brows furrowed.

How was she going to go about saying this?

“Um, bad news Marco. S-So there _is_ a reversal spell, as we already know. But um,” he paused, glancing away from her best friend and twisted the wand in her grip.

Marco only furrowed his brows at the way Star was skipping around the subject, “but w-what? If it won’t k-k-kill me, then I think I’m willing to try just about anyth-thing.”

Star bit her lip before turning her blue orbs back to the now-demon, “But well. You got your wish. It’s a pretty complicated spell that needs a pretty long incantation, but it also has to be read out in a runic circle of the Demon King and kinda also needs quite a few hard to find ingredients. But hey! It can’t be _that_ hard, right?” The princess finished with a nervous chuckle.

Marco’s eyes widened and he let out a groan and flopped back against the girl’s bed. The motion jarred the back of his horns, making him see stars for a few moments, “Ugh, of c-c-course I had to have dumb horns that-t would make laying b-back impossible. A-And these wings are uncomfortable to lay on. Goodbye restful sleep!” Marco grouched, throwing an arm over his eyes in his frustration. _I guess that shows me to try and actually get a passing grade_ , he moped.

Star bit her lip again, eyes flicking over the book once more before letting out a sigh, “I am so sorry, Marco. We’ll definitely get this fixed, but um. I think you’re going to have to deal with the demon-ness for a while. We have to figure out where we can even get half these ingredients. And a Demon King’s circle. At least we already have the incantation!”

Marco gave a small sob before shaking his head. This was so dumb. Why did he think this was going to be a good idea? When was using magic to change himself ever a good idea? Last time it ended terribly, why did he think this was going to end up different?

“It’s okay, St-Star. It’s getting late, I think I’m g-going to go ahead and head back to my do-orm. We can figure the-this out this weekend. Only t-two more days,” Marco advised and slowly rolled himself up and off Star’s bed, letting her blanket drop onto her sheets. He let out a sigh as he picked up his book and packed it away in the bag and spotted the bottle of soda Tom had bought him earlier. He pulled it out and took a drink, chugging it down and letting the carbonation scour his mouth.

“Okay, I’ll ask around for some of these ingredients until then,” Star added, pulling the blanket upon herself, and hugged it tightly to her chest. She glanced at the bottle Marco had and gave a scrunched up her nose at the flavor, “Are you serious drinking that?”

Marco paused and looked at the bottle in his hands and shrugged, “Why not? Tom bought it for me and it kind of grows on you. Anyway, cya tomorrow, Star. Be sure to actually get some sleep tonight. You look terrible.”

Star rolled her eyes and gave a small scoff, “Pfft! I always look fabulous, whatchya talking about. Good luck with the horns and wings thing.”

Marco nodded and bent down and stuffed the empty bottle into his back. He hoisted the back up on his shoulder and stumbled back a little as he had expected the bag to be a little heavier. _At least the demon thing is good for something,_ he thought as he made his way to the door, waving to Star and wishing her a good night before making his way down the hall and stairs.

As he had expected, the android was there watching, waiting for him to show up in a chance to catch him in the girls’ dorm after curfew. He was thankfully, not late. Marco waved to the manager who looked stunned over his new look, though he could see the recognition in her eyes. _At least I don’t look unrecognizable. Ha, can’t wait to see what Firefang has to say about me now._ Maybe this demon thing wouldn’t be too bad after all.

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too happy with this chapter, but what can you do? /Shrug  
> Enjoy nonetheless~

**Chapter 12: Confession**

Marco stood at the bottom of the stairs of the boy’s dorm. There were nine flights of stairs and he lived on the fifth floor. Even though he had gone to school here for almost a week, climbing up and down those stairs were still one of the worst parts of his day. His calves, thighs, and lower back always seemed to ache despite the fact that he was considered to be exceptionally fit for an average teen. Marco does karate after all. Then again, Marco wasn’t exactly an average teen. Even so, the stairs evil was only topped by Firefang’s hatred for him.

The once-human turned and looked at his wings, both set of them curled in a resting position against his back. _I suppose if I’m stuck with this body for a while, I should try figuring it out_ , he thought. With a huff, Marco removed his backpack and held onto it in his arms, wanting to give his new wings as much room as possible to fly up the stairs. He just had to figure out how to get them to move. Marco concentrated on their sleek, charcoal grey forms and imagined them in use. He never had to consciously think about grabbing something, but he couldn’t help it with the wings. Thankfully, that seemed to spur the wings into motion.

His wings unfurled themselves and stretched. Marco gave them a few experimental flaps and rose an inch off the floor, “Okay, so they are powerful too. That’s good to know.” He scratched his head, fumbling his bag a little before he took it back in his arms and settled his feet back on the ground. Taking a deep breath, Marco turned back to the stairs and started flapping his wings again. Once again he lifted off the ground and willing himself forward. He continued to flap in place and Marco couldn’t help but rolling his eyes as he shifted how he moved them, hoping to get the right angle to push himself forward.

After the third try, he finally moved forward, flying higher up the stairs albeit slower than he’d be if he had just walked. When he made it to the second floor, he decided that he’d speed it up a little. He flapped his wings harder, perhaps too hard, and flew face first into the wall, hitting his head on the corner of a doorknob.

Marco let out a pained grumble, his bag having fallen from his arms. He rubbed his head and glanced back to the door and the glowing purple being in the doorway, looking at him in annoyance with all six eyes of his. “S-Sorry.  I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Marco offered up before hurrying to his feet, grabbing his backpack and backed away slowly.

The dorm mate only scoffed and slammed the door in his face, Marco breathed out in relief. He wasn’t in the particular mood to be vaporized or whatever that species did to their enemies. Instead of flying back to his dorm, Marco decided that he’d have to leg it. He wasn’t good enough with his new wings yet and really didn’t want to keep running into things. It didn’t help that now he also had slight wing and shoulder aches along with his leg pain. _Using new muscles suck_ , Marco grumbled to himself as he slipped his backpack back onto his shoulders, working his wings around to get the bag to fit as comfortably as he could, “Ugh…I may need to get a new bag at this rate.”

Marco headed up the last three flights of stairs and stumbled to his and Tom’s room. He thumbed the door open, more than pleased that the door recognized his thumbprint even with the DNA change. Tom, as usual, was sitting on his bed working on an assignment, earbuds stuck in his ears. Marco smiled at that before making his way to his side of the room.

Tom looked up, noticed the other demon, and was immediately on him. Tom shoved Marco into the door and pressed a forearm painfully into the boy’s neck, cutting his intake of oxygen.

“Who the hell are you and why are you in my room?” Tom snapped, eyes already starting to go white from the anger of a stranger being in the room. Marco’s golden eyes snapped wide and tried to wiggle free. He shoved Tom back, thankful that the demon strength as able to help against Tom’s. Marco wasn’t exactly helpless before, but there was only so much a human could do to a demon.

Marco stumbled to his knees and coughed, breathing in deep and quickly shoved his hand forward in a ‘one moment’ motion as he caught his breath, effectively keeping Tom from choking him again. Marco couldn’t help but shiver at the though. _Not again…_ he pleaded with himself before looking back up to the other demon.

“Okay, explanations are in order,” he coughed out, voice only slightly rough from the harsh treatment. He refused to acknowledge that it was also rough for _another_ reason.  Tom’s eye widened a moment before he finally scanned over the demon in front of him.

_He’s wearing Marco’s clothes and bag and—_

“Shit! Marco?” Tom asked, bending down to check over the human—well, now demon. _How did that happen?_ Tom worked off Marco’s backpack, shifting Marco’s wings around so that he could get the heavy tote from his roommate’s back. He set it aside and looked Marco over as the teen gave a grateful nod and a small smile.

Marco let out a chuckle and leaned back against the wall, head tilting back and winced when the action jarred his horns, “Heh, now you can tell it’s me. Should have thought about that before just walking in.” Marco let out a deep sigh, the inkling of a headache forming in his temples.

He reached forward and started rubbing at the pain before noticing that Tom was looking him over and poked Marco on the cheek, right on top of his mole.

“You still have this thing,” Tom remarked quietly, sounding almost like he was talking to himself rather than to the other human. Demon?

Marco adverted his eyes and swatted Tom’s hand away gently, finding that he really didn’t seem to mind. Tom was sort of a friend now, right? Though the slight warmth building behind his cheeks sure didn’t seem to be helping matters.

Tom jolted back a moment before looking away, a little embarrassed from being caught. Though Marco was right there and he _had_ touched him. “Uh, sorry… Just, why are you a gargoyle?” Tom pushed himself up and offered Marco a hand. Marco glanced at the offered hand and took it, using the other’s strength to help him up.

“Yeah, about that. Kind of a long story,” Marco started before noticing Tom’s expression. He didn’t quite look annoyed, sort of hurt. _Huh…_ Marco glanced to his bed and then his eyes moved over the floor until the hit his bag. He bent over, picked up the backpack, and moved away from Tom, making his way back to his bed. He still had that homework to do. Shit.

“Okay, so you know how Firefang is always a jerk?” Marco began, glancing at Tom and sat on his bed. He placed his bag on the ground between his legs and watched as Tom made his way over to his bed. Marco only flushed more when Tom sat on his bed next to him. He could definitely feel the other demon’s body heat.

Tom nodded, “Yeah…”

Marco smiled wryly, “Well I decided that I wanted to be able to actually _pass_ the required class and asked Star to figure out a spell to give me magic powers. It…kind of backfired and now I’m a—gargoyle? I thought she said I was a demon?”

The redhead nodded again before he caught up to Marco’s words, “Wait, Star? Long blond hair, weird sense of fashion? Big blue eyes, likes headbands?”

It was Marco’s turn for his eyes to go wide as he realized how he messed up. _Shit. Shit. Shit!_

“Y-Yes…” Marco adverted his eyes again, heart speeding up and thumping painfully in his chest. Tom was so going to kill him. He was going to find out about him and shit. He was going to die.

Tom leaned back and then eyed Marco more thoroughly before he let out a sigh and shook his head, palm pressed against his face. How had he not noticed it before? Of _course_ Marco was that human that was always hanging around Star. Though that didn’t explain who the douche bag with the mask was. How many humans did Star hang out with anyway?

“Oh. I should have figured that out sooner, huh? You’re that boyfriend she lives with on Earth, right?” Marco risked a glance back at Tom when he didn’t have the distinct feeling of his throat being ripped out. Tom wasn’t going to kill him? Wait, boyfriend?

“No! No no no ! You got it all wrong!”

Tom looked at him, brow furrowed in confusion, “You’re not that Marco?”

Marco shook his head, hands waving in the air. He jumped up to his feet and turned, facing Tom with a flush on his face, “No! I mean, yes, but no. I am that Marco, but Star and I aren’t boyfriend girlfriend. We are just good friends. I think Star figured out about a year ago that she might actually prefer girls, so…Oh gods no. You thought we were together. That whole time?”

Tom shrugged, glancing away and quickly carding his hands through his hair, a self-relaxing motion he had picked up as a habit. “I don’t know. Kind of. I mean you two were nearly inseparable. I only ever saw her with you and that masked kid,” Tom explained, curling a little upon himself and hugged his stomach.

 _Masked kid? Oh. He doesn’t realize that was also me. Probably better that he doesn’t find out_ , Marco thought before making his way back to sit next to Tom.

“Is that why you gave up on her? Cause you thought me and her were…?”

“I realized that she was much happier with you than she was with me,” Tom replied, turning to look out the window. He felt a little cheated, but at the same time, he was relieved. He may have still liked Star, but he no longer was in love with her. Perhaps he never was and it was just his obsession with her. He had long since gotten over her and that wasn’t going to change now that he knew that the guy he thought Star was into was just a good friend of hers. Maybe he and Star could actually become friends again. He missed her awesome adventures and she _was_ the best person to go to for an awesome party.

Tom turned back to Marco and ruffled the now-reddish brown hair of the teen, a smile on his face, “Thanks for telling me the truth, I guess. Though it’s going to be kind of weird knowing I’m dorm mates with Star’s best friend.”

Marco let out a pout at the odd petting, but couldn’t force himself to pull away. He was sure that Tom was probably hurting a little right now. He wasn’t the type to turn away from someone in pain, even if that person was a demon. Tom was by far the most civil of demon’s he had ever come across, the again, he really hadn’t met many in his life.

“You know, I’ve talked to her a lot about you. She’s glad that you’re over her. I don’t think she’d be too against the three of us hanging out together sometime,” Marco voiced, fingers going to pick at his messy hair. He still felt the warmth of Tom’s hand so close to his scalp. Marco shivered. He was starting to notice how cold it was in the room and it was super uncomfortable.

“Really? I don’t know. It has been a long time since I’ve hung out with her, or…”Tom quickly cut himself off. He wasn’t going to admit that.

“Anyway, sound like a good idea, if you can get her to agree.”

Marco elbowed Tom in the rib, a smile on his face before shoving the demon the rest of the way over, laughing when Tom gave him an indignant pout. _Cute_ , he thought before quickly banishing the thought.

Marco cleared his throat, trying to ignore the flush on his cheeks. Hoping to whatever being of power was out there that Tom didn’t notice it with how dark his cheeks were now, “Anyway. I’m sure I can arrange it, but what was that you said earlier about me being a gargoyle? Star said I was a demon.”

Tom pushed himself up and wrapped an arm around Marco’s shoulder, finding that the dusky red on the boy’s cheeks amusing. He didn’t know Marco was so easily flustered, but it seemed that he Marco was blushing a lot more around him lately. Talk about embarrassing.

“You have a lot to learn, Marco. You’re just lucky I’m around and willing to teach you,” he purred out, laughing a little at how Marco seemed to shiver at his touch. _Definitely cute._


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this chapter done for a while. But I post 2 chapters at a time. Since I no longer plan to continue this fic, I thought it was at least fair to post this last chapter. Thank you all who stuck with me and I'm sorry I filled you all with false promises of continuing. I lost interest in the ship and this fic, but anyone who wants to can take the idea and go with it however you please. Thanks for liking this while it lasted!
> 
> Enjoy Chapter 13!

**Chapter 13: Gargoyle**

“First thing’s first, you are a specific form of demon called a gargoyle. They aren’t particularly wide spread,” Tom began, pushing himself from Marco’s bed to shuffle though his belongings. He continued digging through his nightstand when he pulled out a small pocket knight about the length of the demon’s  hand.

“Though that’s because they are guardians. Typically they perch on the side of buildings and watch over their people, using their stone form to keep watch for years at a time, only awakening when they sense danger for the people they protect or to hunt. They are most often the guardians for people of higher power.”

Marco furrowed his brow, “You man like a Prince or Princess?” The teen really couldn’t get over how coincidental it was that the magic had turned him into guardian. He really was over-protective of his friends. Perhaps the magic knew about that and that was why it turned him into a gargoyle.

Tom chuckled, eyes watching Marco with amusement. There really was a lot that he had to teach Marco if the teen was going to be stuck as a gargoyle. How long did that spell last anyway?

“Well, I suppose. Though typically they work for lower ranks. Like a duke or something. Still powerful, but not exactly the future ruler of the Underworld. Why, you think you need to protect me?” He couldn’t help but tease, tossing the knife between his hands before catching it and snapped it open, blade gleaming in the room’s light.

Marco’s golden eyes followed the knife before glancing at Tom, a little worry on his face. _He should be more careful with that…_ He thought before swatting the thought away. Tom was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He didn’t need Marco worrying over him. At the other’s words, Marco’s eyes snapped back to the demon, face darkening again. He really needed to stop this blushing crap. He was just embarrassing himself at this point.

“What?! No! I’m sure you can take care of yourself just fine. It was just a question, sheesh,” the once-human replied, waving the prince off, noticing that Tom was moving his hand so that the blade was pressed against the meat of his thumb.

“What are you—?”

Then Tom cut into his palm and deep red began leaking out.

“The hell—Tom!” Marco gasped out, jumping to his feet and took the knife from the demon. He snapped the blade shut and tossed it onto Tom’s bed, his hands already reaching for his roommate’s hand to check out the wound.

It wasn’t too deep and with demon healing, it probably would heal within a few hours tops. Still Marco couldn’t help but fret. It was just who he was. The damn Safety Kid.

Marco turned Tom’s hand around, before stepping aside and went to their little kitchenette, not that they really had made much use of it yet, and started digging around for a cloth. Marco pulled it out, got it wet with a little dap of soap and made his way back to Tom.

Tom stood there, a smug look upon his face as he watched Marco fret over him, “Not worried about me, huh? Sure looks like you’re playing a lot of mother hen for someone who isn’t worried over me.”

The brunet glared at his friend and went to cleaning up the wound, hoping the soap stung, just to spite the demon. “I didn’t say that I didn’t worry about you. You are a friend of mine, so of course I’m going to worry over you, you idiot! That’s just who I am, the ‘Safety Kid’. I just think you’re capable of taking care of yourself. You have this whole ‘demon’ thing down already, what is there to protect you from? Other than yourself, apparently.”

The prince rolled his eyes, but kept up his grin nonetheless. Of course he had to be protected from himself. He knew he was a fuck up, still, he was amused that the human—er, other demon, cared enough to take care of him, even if it was a little embarrassing. He didn’t really have too many people in his life fuss over him. It sort of gave him a warm, tingly feeling in his gut, but he couldn’t quite feel uncomfortable about it. It was nice.

“ ‘Safety Kid’? Do people actually call you that?”

Marco froze, bloody rag clasped in his hand. Did he really just tell Tom that dumb nickname? _I’m such an idiot…_

“Uh…Y-yeah…It’s just this dumb name people started to call me at school because I apparently fuss over people’s safety too much. I suppose it’s better than mother hen,” he teased, glancing at Tom with a warning gaze. He already had enough nicknames, he didn’t need another one.

“Pfft. Talk about embarrassing.” Tom voiced, easing his hand from Marco’s grasp, the bleeding already having stopped from Marco’s care.  The demon looked it over and deemed it satisfactory before turning back to Marco.

“Thanks.”

Marco rolled his eyes and made his way back to the small kitchen He rinsed out the cloth, wrung it out, and set it aside to dispose of later. He made his way back to the room and flopped upon his bed, hands moving to unzip his backpack. Homework was still something he had to finish, as much as he disliked the idea. He should also get a little more information about gargoyles.

“You’re welcome, hmm, say, is there anything else about gargoyles I need to know? I’m not going to wake up as a stone statue am I?” It sounded like a valid concern to him. He really didn’t want to be stuck as stone when he had classes in the morning.

Tom laughed and made his way back to his own bed. He picked up the knife and opened the knife once more. He wiped off the blood onto his sleeve and put it away.

“Oh, right. Well there really isn’t too much else to know. You’ll only turn into stone if you get deathly injured or if you want to. It is a healing stance, though I suppose you’d die if someone shoved you hard enough you shattered while in that form. It hasn’t happened in a long time though,” Tom explained, sitting on his own bed.

He summoned the holo screen once more before continuing, “But you were turned into a demon to do magic, weren’t you? As a gargoyle you really don’t have too much magic, though I’m sure they can use fire and earth magics. Typically plant growth and rock manipulation. Fire is just something most, if not all, demons can use. I think that some gargoyles can develop telepathic abilities with their masters.”

Marco nodded and flopped back onto his bed. This was a lot to take in and the form he took wasn’t even all that helpful in the end. Just his luck. Not to mention it would likely be a while since he’d be able to get back to his normal human body. _Just great_.

“ ‘Masters’? So gargoyles are an enslaved race?” Marco voiced, scowling at Tom with a sidelong glance. If Tom started treating him like a pawn, he’d have to knock him back into—

“What? No! Slaves is a human thing, though I suppose that some other dimensions use the, they got the idea from humans. No, gargoyles are contracted to protect a family. They are naturally very protective over many people, and were often used in war on the front lines back in the days. They just naturally want to keep people safe. We just pay them to devote themselves to a particular family. It keeps us safe and they get paid for something that they enjoy and comes naturally for them. Plus it keeps them less stressed by letting them focus only on a select few people,” Tom explained, a little annoyed that Marco assumed that the demons were that terrible. “As much as you humans like to think of us as terrible, blood thirsty and terrible monsters, we aren’t that different. Don’t stereotype us all as evil over what a select few of us have done in the past.”

Marco swallowed hard and glanced away. He rubbed at his neck in shame, “Sorry…I didn’t mean to judge. “ Marco sat up and let out a sigh, staring at his stack of homework and grumbled to himself. Well, he had better get to working on it otherwise he won’t be able to finish it for tomorrow. Quietly, he got to work.

“It’s nothing, just be careful what you say,” Tom snapped, clenching his fists as he tried to calm himself. He really didn’t want to get angry over something that he was used to, then again, he shouldn’t have to worry about being called a monster in the first place. He was a person too, no matter what race he was. He deserved the same respect as anyone else. However, he supposed that might be hard for some humans; they couldn’t even treat their own race with respect.

Tom felt himself getting more and more fumed, so he quickly turned back to his own homework, cooling down a little when Marco apologized.

After several moments of awkward, tense silence, Marco spoke up again, rubbing his arms, “So…Would you mind telling me more about the Underworld? Your people and stuff? I’d like to learn a bit more if you wouldn’t mind telling me.”

Tom’s eyes widened as he turned to look at the boy. That wasn’t something he had been expecting.

“Why do you want to know?”

Marco shrugged, “I thought it would be appropriate. I’m sorta stuck as a gargoyle for now and I don’t want to make the mistake of being an ignoramus again. I’d just like to learn a bit, besides, your culture is probably a lot different than mine. Humans have so many different cultures and it’s really fascinating. I can’t imagine what it’d be like in the Underworld.”

Tom turned away, that tingly feeling already pushing its way forward again. This was a pleasant surprise. Letting out a small chuckle, Tom replied, “Well for starters, it’s hot.” Marco let out a snort as he fell into a peaceful lull, listening to Tom talk about the Underworld and palace life.


End file.
